North Haverhill
Michael Whelton, 56, of Enfield, went before Judge Peter Bornstein last week in Grafton Superior Court and argued for the court to suspend the remainder of his minimum prison term.
Whelton, who was the director of the Children’s Center of the Upper Valley, has served about 3½ years of his five-year sentence.
Bornstein sided with prosecutor John Bell, who, in a March court objection, said releasing Whelton early would be “inappropriate” and contrary to public policy under the statute that governs child pornography possession.
“The court concludes that suspending any portion of the defendant’s sentences would undermine the legislature’s purpose in enacting (a state law against child pornography possession) and would be inconsistent with the seriousness of the defendant’s crimes,” Bornstein wrote in his order, which was released on Thursday. “Suspension would also undermine the goals of general deterrence, specific deterrence and punishment and would tend to erode the social norms that the defendant’s criminal acts implicate.”
On Thursday, Bell said he was pleased with the ruling.
“I am gratified that the court agreed with the state’s reasoning,” Bell said.
Whelton’s attorney, James Rosenberg, said on Thursday that he was “disappointed” with the outcome. He said Whelton has been a model inmate, taken responsibility for his crimes and completed various types of programming, including the sex offender treatment program.
“We respect the court’s decision and appreciate the time it took to consider our arguments, but are disappointed in the outcome because Mr. Whelton had no prior records, was determined through the state’s own program to be a low risk to re-offend and had an established plan in place to allow for meaningful re-entry into the community,” Rosenberg said.
Anyone who is sentenced to fewer than six years in prison and who has served two-thirds of their sentence is eligible to petition for early release, according to state law.
In August 2015, Whelton pleaded guilty to four felony offenses for possessing child sexual abuse images, as well as a theft charge for embezzling money from the child care center.
He received a five- to 10-year sentence for the child porn charges, and another one- to three-year sentence on the theft offense, which was to be served at the same time. (He had pretrial credit for time served that factored into his minimum sentence.)
Both the defense and prosecution laid out their positions in court documents prior to last week’s hearing on the matter, which is when the judge took Whelton’s request under advisement.
Bell, the prosecutor, was starkly against releasing Whelton early, according to his March motion.
“This defendant was convicted on indictments alleging extremely graphic images of children performing sexual acts,” Bell wrote. “The defendant represented the market for individuals seeking to profit from the distribution of images of children being directed to perform these horrific acts.”
Bell continued: “His decision to do so is all the more egregious, as his employment was devoted to the daily care of the class of human beings identical to the ones being exploited and irreparably harmed by the purveyors of the material he chose to receive and possess.”
Whelton served as the director of the child care center for two years before he was terminated in July 2014, on suspicion that he embezzled money from the organization. He pleaded guilty to taking about $4,000.
On the day he was terminated, Whelton returned his work-issued laptop to the center, and a subsequent search of the computer by the organization’s board president found “suspicious websites,” according to an arrest affidavit. The president turned the computer over to Lebanon police, who located “numerous images of child pornography.”
Whelton is set for release in August 2019, according to the state Department of Corrections’ website.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com.