By Justin Story, Bowling Green Daily News

A Barren County man who once served as a mental health counselor will serve more than eight years in prison after admitting to sharing images of child sexual exploitation online.

Carl Anthony Puleo, 55, of Park City, was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court to 100 months behind bars, having previously pleaded guilty to charges of receipt of child pornography, distribution of child pornography and possession of child pornography.

According to records filed in the case, Puleo used a peer-to-peer file sharing network to amass and share a collection of still images and video files of child sexual abuse, with most of the material depicting girls younger than 10 years of age.

“I do consider as monstrous the act of viewing monstrous images of children being tortured,” U.S. District Court Chief Judge Greg Stivers said at Friday’s sentencing hearing. “It’s worthy of severe punishment.”

Federal prosecutors sought a 151-month sentence for Puleo.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jo Lawless said that 11 victims provided impact statements to the court describing how their exploitation and the continued violations from having their images online affects their lives.

At least three of the victims sought restitution in the case, and Stivers ordered Puleo to pay $5,000 in restitution to each victim who requested it.

Puleo was arrested Dec. 5 following a federal investigation in which law enforcement found that he accessed and shared images online of child sexual abuse.

An indictment returned later that month by a federal grand jury claimed that Puleo shared illegal images online between Sept. 8 and Nov. 15.

According to Puleo’s plea agreement, a federal law enforcement official in Bowling Green reviewed the images and was able to connect them to a computer belonging to Puleo.

Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Puleo’s home on Dec. 5 and found a cell phone in his office that was actively downloading a video file containing child sexual abuse.

During an interview with law enforcement, Puleo said he started viewing the illicit material about eight months ago.

“He also stated that he knew distributing and receiving child pornography was illegal and that possessing child pornography was wrong but claimed it was not necessarily illegal,” Puleo’s plea agreement said.

Attorney Dwight Burton, representing Puleo, argued for a sentence of 5-7 years for Puleo, citing his lack of prior criminal history.

Dr. Bruce Fane, a psychologist who evaluated Puleo, testified Friday that he believed Puleo acted impulsively when accessing the illegal images and developed an obsession.

“I don’t think he was thinking about what he was doing,” Fane said.