He also used online messenger, social media, cloud storage and email accounts to transport and possess child pornography, according to the DOJ. Kovacs in February pleaded guilty to transporting and possessing child pornography.
U.S. District Judge Michael Newman said during a sentencing hearing on Wednesday that he planned to send him to prison for 181 months and then require him to serve 15 years of supervised release, but held off on imposing the sentence as the defense and government were still trying to agree on restitution Kovacs would pay to victims in the case.
Kovacs is expected back in court next week to finish the hearing.
A plea agreement called for Kovacs to be sentenced to between five and 20 years. The DOJ said in a sentencing memorandum filed in the case that 15 years would be sufficient punishment for the 61-year-old.
Kovacs retired in August 2018 after 25 years with the Beavercreek Police Department. He worked as a patrol officer, crime prevention specialist and Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer with Beavercreek City Schools, according to a Beavercreek police Facebook post announcing his retirement. During the Wednesday hearing, the government said Kovacs should have been viewed as a pillar of the community but instead committed “vile” and “heinous” crimes.
“In subject case, the defendant’s prior status as a local police officer is a disturbing aggravating factor,” a prosecutor sentencing memorandum filed before the hearing says. “The fact he engaged in possessing and transporting child pornography while a DARE officer is even more troubling. Local DARE officers are expected to serve as a positive role model for school age children. The defendant has compromised the integrity of the DARE program along with the honor and reputation of the Beavercreek Police Department.”
Kovacs said during the Wednesday hearing that he’s had a lot of time to think about his actions and said he regrets them. He also said that he was “very sorry” to the victims.
Kovacs’ attorney, Jon Paul Rion, said during the hearing that Kovacs suffered a death in the family and other family hardships around the time of the crimes, which may have caused a man who spent his entire life serving the community “to go in a different direction.”
He asked the court to sentence him closer to 151 months — about 12½ years.
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