PORTLAND, Ore. - A convicted sex offender was sentenced yesterday to a lengthy term of imprisonment after pleading guilty to two counts of possessing child pornography. U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown sentenced Richard Roosevelt Bahr, Jr., 30, of Dufur, Oregon, to twenty years in prison followed by a life term of supervised release following his plea of guilty to possessing child pornography. Bahr will be subject to stringent conditions of supervision, including prohibitions on associating with minors and frequenting places where children congregate, and restrictions on his use of computers. Bahr will also be required to participate in mental health and sex offender treatment, and must register as a sex offender.

In 2003, Bahr was convicted in Wasco County of third degree rape in connection with an incident involving a teenage girl, and was sentenced to six years in prison, followed by a three-year term of post-prison supervision. In July and August 2010, while still on post-prison supervision in Wasco County, Bahr possessed more than 600 images graphically depicting the sexual abuse of very young children.

In imposing the sentence, Judge Brown noted the volume and disturbing nature of the images Bahr possessed, including images that depicted very young children and sadistic conduct. Given his background and history, Judge Brown expressed concern that Bahr was likely to re-offend in the future. She imposed a sentence she described as "enough, but not too much to protect the public, to deter similar conduct in the future, and to take into account the gravity of Bahr's conduct and the harm done to the children depicted in the images, who were abused in "exceedingly outrageous ways." Bahr said nothing at the sentencing hearing.

U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall praised the sentence imposed on Bahr. "We as a society cannot tolerate the sexual abuse and exploitation of children," she said. "The possession of images depicting the sexual abuse of children as young as infants, particularly by a convicted sex offender, is abhorrent and intolerable. This defendant poses a risk to the community that more than justifies the sentence imposed by the court."

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice and led by United States Attorneys - Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

This case was investigated by the City of The Dalles Police Department, and was prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Gary Sussman, Project Safe Childhood Coordinator for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Oregon.