Judge Sends Message in Stiff Child Pornography Sentencing
Guidelines call for less than a year in jail, but judge gives Grawn man up to a 10-year sentence
By Patrick Sullivan, Traverse City Record-Eagle staff writer
Originally published in The Traverse City Record-Eagle, June 2, 2001
TRAVERSE CITY — Saying he wanted to send a message that homemade child pornography would not be tolerated, a judge sent a Grawn man to prison Friday for making videos of a 15-year-old girl having sex.
Circuit Judge Philip Rodgers said he wanted to make an example of Kimball W. Tinker, 54, to deter others who might consider making child porn.
Tinker, who pleaded guilty to assault with intent to commit sexual penetration, was sentenced to 23 months to 10 years in prison.
Tinker, who told police he once worked in the porn industry in California, was investigated after the mother of the girl discovered a sexually explicit video of her daughter and called police.
Rodgers said the case warranted a bigger punishment than that called for by the Michigan sentencing guidelines, which recommended less than a year in county jail. Rodgers said the guidelines didn't take into account that Tinker videotaped sex acts.
Tinker is accused of twice videotaping the 15-year-old girl in pornographic situations, once with two male teen-agers.
Whether Tinker offered the teens alcohol or drugs to participate is in dispute, according to testimony at Tinker's sentencing Friday. Tinker's lawyer, James Hunt, said Tinker didn't provide the minors with alcohol or drugs. Tinker has maintained that the teens requested he make the video.
Tinker apologized for what he did and said he has always been too trusting of people, and that he believed the victim was 17 years old.
Tinker said he didn't realize the age of consent for pornography is 18. He said he realizes now he should have asked for some identification.
"My father always told me that you always take a person's word until they prove otherwise," he said. "It would not have happened if I would have known their ages."
"This is not like somebody coming over to fix your roof and you find out they don't have a builder's license," said Rodgers, who called Tinker's attitude about his crime "lackadaisical."
Rodgers said he was "flabbergasted" that someone would make a hobby out of filming sex acts.
"You sounded more like one of the 19-year-olds I see who are accused of having sex with a 15-year-old," Rodgers said, "You're a 54-year-old man. This was deviant sexual behavior that you were happy to film."
Hunt said his client should be sentenced to jail—not prison—and said he was otherwise an upstanding citizen willing to help out neighbors.
Hunt said police removed 900 tapes from his home, and although they found pornography, Hunt said, only three tapes were suspected of being illegal—two involving the 15-year-old victim in this case and another involving a 17-year-old girl.
Assistant prosecutor James Pappas asked Rodgers to take into account that Tinker took advantage of a victim who has had a tough life.
"Young women sexually active at that age typically have a poor prior history," Rodgers said. Often they have a history of sexual abuse and poor upbringing, he said.
