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Former first-year sentenced for child pornography charges

A former Miami University first-year pled guilty to child pornography charges and avoided jail time at his sentencing hearing on Thursday, July 18.

Adam Blatt was arrested by the Miami University Police Department (MUPD) at Maplestreet Station on February 12 and accused of operating a Dropbox account containing 17 videos of child pornography.

The Dropbox account had "178 movies of questionable content, 17 of which "contained footage of obvious prepubescent females engaging in sexual acts," MUPD Detective Walter Schneider wrote in the incident report.

Blatt told MUPD the email on the account was his, but he hadn't shared the videos with anyone else.

He was originally charged with 17 counts of receiving, purchasing, exchanging and possessing child porn, which is a fourth degree felony. But four of those 17 counts were downgraded to a fifth degree and lesser felony of having photos of nude children.

Blatt pleaded guilty to those four counts, and the other 13 were dropped.

Blatt will not serve any jail time but will be on probation for one year. If he violates probation, he could face four years in jail, said prosecutor Kelly Heile.

He will also have to register as a tier one sex offender, which requires in-person verification every year for 15 years. This also carries other restrictions, such as not being able to live within 1,000 feet from a school.

Blatt was given a $1,000 fine along with the other sentences.

Director of University News and Communication Claire Wagner told The Miami Student in March that Blatt was no longer enrolled at the university.

berryrd@miamioh.edu

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