Man Gets 20 Years In Case Of Videotaped Child
GRAND RAPIDS (WWJ/AP) - A West Michigan man who authorities say videotaped a naked 5-year-old girl has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.
Eric Straatsma received the sentence Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids. He earlier pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child.
Authorities say Straatsma, a 34-year-old Comstock Park resident, made the video in 2009 and also was found with than 1,000 images of child pornography. The FBI said he had traded child pornography for 15 years.
Agents took about 10 computer towers, five laptops, 13 hard drives, three digital cameras and a box filled with 100 pairs of little girls' underwear from Straatsma's home, the Grand Rapids Press reported.
"Eric Straatsma gave me consent to seize the underpants and admitted he possessed them for the purposes of sexual gratification," FBI special agent Aaron Bartholomew wrote in a complaint.
The complaint did not say what led to the investigation.
The judge ordered Straatsma locked up immediately.
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