Massachusetts man sentenced to 7 years on multiple child pornography charges

PROVIDENCE, RI – A Malden, Mass., man was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Providence today to 84 months in federal prison for transporting, distributing and possessing child pornography.

Fetahe Makonnen, 35, was arrested in October 2017, shortly after he provided an undercover Rhode Island State Police Detective with two computer thumb drives containing approximately 1,300 images and videos depicting child pornography involving prepubescent children.

Makonnen travelled to Rhode Island on October 28, 2017, with the intention of sharing images and videos of child pornography, and with the hope of securing additional images and videos of child pornography. He traveled to Rhode Island after communicating via the Internet and by telephone in July and September 2017 with an individual he believed interested in viewing and sharing child pornography. The individual was in fact a detective assigned to the Rhode Island State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Makonnen pleaded guilty on April 30, 2018, to transportation of child pornography, distribution of child pornography, and possession of child pornography.

At sentencing today, U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. smith also ordered Makonnen to serve 10 years supervised release upon completion of his term of incarceration. Restitution will be determined at a later date to known victims whose images appear in some of the photographs and images of child pornography seized from Makonnen.
Makonnen’s sentence is announced by United States Attorney Aaron L. Weisman, Colonel James M. Manni, Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, and Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Peter C. Fitzhugh.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dulce Donovan.