Gorish will likely spend remaining days in prison

Historic City News local reporters were informed that today, United States District Judge Marcia Morales Howard sentenced 67-year-old Charles Lee Gorish of St Augustine, to a 15-year sentence in federal prison for international transportation of images and videos of child pornography from Florida to Canada.

Gorish has been in custody in Folkston, Georgia since his arrest in St Augustine on September 7, 2012. He pled guilty on October 23, 2013. According to sentencing guidelines, the mandatory minimum penalty in this case was not less than 15-years, and up to 40-years, in federal prison.

Court records show that Gorish was already a registered sex offender. He was convicted in Hillsborough County on February 24, 1992 on three-counts of lewd and lascivious conduct against a minor child.

If he survives his latest prison sentence, he still faces registration requirements and will serve 10-years of sex offender supervision.

According to court documents, Gorish used a fake name to send a package, via FedEx, from St Augustine to an individual in Ontario, Canada. The package was intercepted by Canadian law enforcement officers. It contained, among other things, two micro SD media cards containing more than 600 images and videos depicting child pornography, and thousands of images of child erotica.

Canadian officials notified the St Johns County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations regarding the seizure of this package.

This case was investigated by the Canadian Border Services Agency, Ottawa Police Services, the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

It is another case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.