He went by the screen name “Sick Mind” and shared sexually explicit pictures and videos involving children — some of them graphic — in an online chat room.
Curtis D. Burden’s internet activity was detected by an undercover officer in Arizona and he is now heading to prison.
Summit County Common Pleas Judge Mary Margaret Rowlands sentenced Burden, 20, of Barberton, to six years in prison Thursday. He pleaded guilty May 20 to pandering obscenity involving a minor, a second-degree felony. He faced up to eight years in prison.
Detective Randall Snyder of the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona, who investigates cyber crimes, was monitoring a chat room in November when someone going by the name “Sick Mind” posted numerous pictures and videos. He traced the posts to the IP address of a computer in a home in Coventry Township owned by one of Burden’s relatives.
Burden admitted to being “Sick Mind” in the chat room, according to prosecutors. Local detectives searched Burden’s home in Barberton and found sexual images involving children on the computer of Burden’s roommate, Matthew G. Barlow, 34.
Barlow pleaded guilty last month to pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor, a fourth-degree felony. This was a lesser offense than Burden because it involved possessing, but not disseminating, images. Barlow faces up to 18 months in prison, according to court records.
Barlow was scheduled to be sentenced by Rowlands on Wednesday, but his case was continued. A new sentencing date has not yet been set, though he will have a status hearing Aug. 17.