Former Pa. state cop sentenced to federal prison for child porn offenses

Sean R. McKenzie said he joined the Pennsylvania State Police in 2008 in hopes of doing good and helping others.

Instead, he did the exact opposite, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Heidi Grogan. McKenzie, 39, was sentenced Wednesday to 23 years in a federal prison on child pornography possession charges. The former trooper read a statement during the hearing in Pittsburgh federal court in which he apologized and offered an explanation about why he had been looking at child pornography.

“Your honor, I would point out that the defendant is remorseful only for himself,” Grogan said after McKenzie was finished.

U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon ordered McKenzie to spend 25 years on supervised release after the prison term. He previously worked out of the New Stanton station before his arrest in early 2022.

As Bissoon detailed the terms of the sentence she imposed, McKenzie repeatedly shook his head while seated at the defense table. He looked back at family members before being led out of court and shrugged his shoulders.

“What you had to say today … was particularly narcissistic and particularly troubling to the court,” Bissoon said.

An investigation began in 2021 when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received information that 215 images of child pornography had been uploaded to a computer traced to an internet account at McKenzie’s home address in Perryopolis, according to court papers filed by state police.

McKenzie was indicted in May 2022. He pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges involving possession, production and transporting child pornography.

Prosecutors presented impact statements from a woman who was sexually assaulted in a piece of child pornography and the father of another victim. McKenzie’s mother and stepfather asked for mercy.

“I know it can’t be fixed overnight and I know he needs help, but he also has a family,” Suzanne Melocchi testified.

McKenzie claimed to have been sexually abused as a boy and said a lifetime of not dealing with the resulting trauma led him to feelings of depression, anxiety and loneliness. Those wounds were reopened as an adult after what he described as devastating losses.

He found what he called a coping mechanism by looking at child pornography because he realized he wasn’t alone, McKenzie said in his statement to the court.

“It was the little help that I thought I was getting from the videos,” he said, adding he is prescribed medication for depression and anxiety.

Bissoon ordered that McKenzie forfeit his cellphone, computer, iPad and a flash drive. He was ordered to pay $61,000 to 11 victims.

He had been a corporal with the state police until his suspension after being arrested. McKenzie previously was assigned to Troop B at the Uniontown and Pittsburgh stations.

It was unclear where he will serve his sentence.