Ohio Judge Caught With Hundreds of Child Porn Pictures

A former Lorain County Juvenile Court magistrate is facing federal charges after FBI investigators found hundreds of images of child pornography on his computer, according to FBI Special Agent Kelly Liberti.

Former magistrate James Paterson, 49, was charged Tuesday with receiving child pornography at his home in Lorain after an investigation led by the FBI into Paterson’s online activity.

Investigators found that Paterson had commented on multiple online child pornography sites and had “hundreds” of images of child pornography on his computer, according to a complaint filed by the FBI in the U.S. District Court on Monday.

Paterson previously was a juvenile magistrate for former Lorain County Domestic Relations Judge David Berta, according to Liberti, the Cleveland FBI spokeswoman.

Berta said he just learned about the charges Wednesday morning.

“I was taken aback and thoroughly upset. If these charges bear to be true, I will truly be heartbroken,” Berta wrote in a message Wednesday evening.

The investigation dates to early December when Paterson went on child pornography websites and “expressed an interest” in children younger than 12, according to the complaint.

That information led FBI investigators to execute a search warrant at Paterson’s house Monday. Paterson was home at the time and told investigators that he has a collection of between 500 to 1,000 sexually explicit images of children and around 200 sexually explicit videos, according to the complaint.

He also told investigators that he has watched child pornography for the past couple of years.

After his arrest, however, he denied ever sexually abusing children.

On Tuesday, investigators seized Paterson’s computer and found hundreds of images of children from newborn to age 6 being sexually abused, according to the complaint.

Paterson was being held in federal custody Wednesday until his detention hearing at 2 p.m. Monday at the U.S. District Court in Cleveland.