Vietnam Vet Sent to Prison For Child Porn

September 26, 2013

A Chester Township man may have witnessed the abuses and atrocities of war firsthand, but that didn’t excuse him from distributing child pornography or abusing his step granddaughter.

At least, that’s what Geauga County Common Pleas Judge Forrest Burt said as he handed Walter Harrison, 64, a nine- and- a-half-year prison sentence for three sex-related offenses.

He will also have to register as a Tier 2 sex offender for 25 years upon his release.

Harrison — a decorated combat veteran who served in Vietnam and had no prior criminal record — pleaded guilty July 22 to pandering sexually oriented matter invol-ving a minor, possessing crim-inal tools and attempted gross sexual imposition.

Harrison’s lawyer, Edward Brice of Chardon, argued his client had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in the war, which wasn’t diagnosed right away.

“Unfortunately, besides experiencing what probably most of us didn’t experience, he also experienced and witnessed and apparently participated in a number of atrocities involving women and children,” Brice said last week. “He came back with an honorable discharge, came back with four bronze medals, came back with a purple heart. He also came back with PDSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, wasn’t diag-nosed until later and he put away his weapons. He entered civilian life, he entered into jobs, he became and resumed being a law abiding citizen from 40 years ago up until now.”

Brice added, “He did that, but he still had the, I’m going to call them demons, from his war service, from his battle experience, from his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.”

Harrison also suffered a brain hemorrhage in the mid-90s, Brice said.

“That worsened his physical and mental problems more. He became 100 percent disabled,” he told Burt. “It seemed more on the mental side, because he could still function.”

Last fall, Harrison had sought out illegal child pornography on the Internet.

Officials from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification moni-tored Harrison’s activities online through various means such as IP (Internet Protocol) tracing.

After an undercover agent from BCI tracked him, law enforcement received a search warrant and obtained his computers.

A month later, as law enforcement were searching his computer hard drives, they found a locally made video of child pornography on a USB flash drive, officials said.

On that 30-second video, officials found Harrison engaging in inapprop-riate contact with his 4-year-old step-granddaughter.

“He has, I want to call it, the child pornography addiction,” Brice told Burt Wednesday. “The last couple years it came to light. They found … this bizarre incident with his step-granddaughter on his own camera resulting in the gross sexual imposition charge and the plea agreement on the attempted gross sexual imposition. He’s been caught, he’s been charged, he’s been convicted, he’s acknowledged it and he’s continued with his counseling.”

Brice added, “Now, despite all his problems, despite trouble having a job, sometimes despite having trouble with authority, he continued to follow the law, obey the law, obey orders just like he did in Vietnam.”

The attorney also mentioned Harrison’s psychiatric evaluation, which “reconfirmed the significant post-traumatic stress disorder, the significant major depression.”

“The amount of child porn that Walt put on his computer, (the doctor) found it significant that a number of those kids portrayed were Asian, going back to his Vietnam service and atrocities Walt witnessed back then,” Brice said. “And again, may the court consider his service, his related injuries and whether or not that has an affect on what he was doing and why he was doing it. Can anybody figure this out? Probably not, but there it is.”

He added, “Overall, Walt has been a good citizen, a good soldier and now he’s a totally disabled combat decorated veteran. These cases are tough and the families that are affected, their desire for punishment and anger, it’s all under-standable and it’s there.”

Harrison told Burt the brain hemorrhaged he suffered in 1994 brought out issues he had been hiding, including abuse as a child, in school, in training, in the army and in Vietnam.

“Your honor, I’m standing here before you a broken man. I have a problem. I’ve admitted that I have a problem,” Harrison said. “I have made a mistake and take full responsibility for my actions and my choices.”

He noted his support from the Veterans Administration, his family, two churches he attends and a Bible study group he is in.

“My mental anguish over what I did to children in (Vietnam) has haunted me ever since. I’m not a killer, but I had to kill them. To me, that’s the ultimate abuse,” he told Burt. “My problem dealing with abuse is being worked on by the VA. I think I would receive better care on the outside, other than in prison.”

Harrison expressed remorse for causing harm to his family and step granddaughter.

“I ripped a hole in this family, a large hole and there is nothing I can do to repair that,” he said. “I can only say I’m sorry. I can only ask for your forgiveness; I can only beg for your forgiveness. I didn’t do this because I wanted to hurt anybody. This wasn’t something that was on my mind. I want this to be over so everyone can heal.”

Since he has been jailed at the Geauga County Safety Center, Harrison said he has been threatened and has had things stolen from him.

“I fear for my life because of this and there is nothing I can do to protect myself,” he told the court, adding he has had surgery on his shoulder.

“I am a one-armed man. I can’t protect myself in any way, shape or form,” he said. “I have nothing I can say other than I am sorry. I didn’t do this with malicious demeanor. This was nothing that I tried to do, to hurt anybody.

“I come to this court a humble man. I come to this court a broken man. I come to this court a veteran hoping for a second chance to prove that I’m a good man and I apologize to everyone in this courtroom, for my family, my friends, my church group, the family that I used to be in, all the people that I cared for. I wish this never happened. If I could throw myself in front of a bus and kill myself, so this never would have happened, I would.That’s all I can say.”

Burt, however, felt quite differently about Harrison’s choices.

“I am mindful of a relatively well known quote from William Tecumseh Sherman: ‘War is Hell.’ I recognize and appreciate the fact that you served this country, and there is gratitude owed to you and any veteran who does so,” Burt said, adding he did not serve in the military.

“I don’t have the experience of observing the horrors that occur during war, whether it’s by our enemies or by our own soldiers,” he said. “Certainly, post-traumatic stress syndrome is a recognized condition. I don’t look at it as something you’re hiding behind; it is part and parcel of your person, as is your prior abuse.

“With that being said, you’re not the only person in the world who has PTSD. You are not the only person in the world who has been abused. Other people have been subjected to the horrors of war and they don’t commit the crimes that you committed.”

The judge also said while Harrison could not have prevented the abuses of war, he could have stopped the abuse in his own home as well as the indirect abuse caused to the victims on the child pornography websites he watched.

“There is no legality to child porn nor excuse for child porn,” Burt told Harrison. “And it’s people like you who perpetuate it. If there is no market, they’re not going to make the videos.

“It’s people like you who not only perpetuate, you are participating in peer-to-peer; that simply means you are set up to share. Is it any less abhorrent that you’re just watching it at home, probably not, but you’re set up to share it with others. You trade porn, you make this whole industry work.”

Burt said Harrison is like the millions of people worldwide who are involved in child pornography.

“Among all the other factors I am considering is the fact that it’s got to stop. Am I going to stop it by sending you to prison? Probably not, but I have at least one person who I know for a period will not be sharing child porn, will not be watching it,” the judge said. “What makes you different is you crossed the line.

“If there is a typical kiddie porn offender, they sit in their bedrooms or wherever they choose to watch it and they don’t leave the house, but you lured somebody into the bedroom and whether you had clothing … that just changed the degree of the offense.”

Burt called Harrison’s acts “disgusting” and said they were no less disgus-ting than the victims who were abused and tortured in Vietnam, no less disgus-ting than the victims in child porn who are forced to participate in horrible acts.

“Not only do you do it, you video it, which can only indicate either you want to revisit it over and over and over, for whatever pleasure you get out of it or you intended to share it,” he added.

Even though Harrison has no prior criminal record and is a war hero, Burt said he was going to prison.

“Your crime involved, in regards to your granddaughter, and I’ll call her your granddaughter because that’s obviously what she thought you were to her, a grandfather, was a trusting relationship,” Bur said. “You violated that trust.”