Incarcerated man reveals his penchant for child pornography during lie detector test

A 50-year-old Cambridge Springs man confessed to a lie detector test while applying for a job as a federal pilot. He blamed “a few mouse clicks.” Prosecutors say viewing child porn was “no accident.”

A private pilot from Cambridge Springs would likely never have been charged in federal court in Erie if he had not passed a lie detector test for a government job.

But the defendant, 50-year-old Conrad T. Shearer, told the cruel truth and now faces two years in federal prison for possessing child pornography, including images of children as young as three years old.

According to court documents, Shearer admitted to viewing the material when he answered questions on a lie detector test in 2019 and applied to be a pilot with Customs and Border Protection.

Department of Homeland Security investigators used this admission to obtain a search warrant for Shearer's cell phones.

According to court documents, agents found 137 images of child pornography that Shearer viewed between June 2017 and January 2019.

Shearer was charged in January this year and pleaded guilty in March.

He was sentenced to two years in prison on Friday in U.S. District Court in Erie – the sentence recommended by the U.S. Attorney's Office and defense to U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter. She also sentenced Shearer to five years' probation and allowed him to report to prison later.

Shearer paid $15,000 in restitution. The restitution amounts to $3,000 for each of the five victims in the materials.

Prosecutor: Watching child pornography “not an accident”

According to sentencing guidelines, Shearer faced 37 to 46 months in prison. The 24-month sentence justified the unusual origins of the case.

“This is not a typical child pornography case,” Shearer's lawyers said in a sentencing memo. “If Mr. Shearer had lied during questioning, he probably would not be in this court for sentencing.”

Shearer apologized but tried to downplay the seriousness of the case.

“I feel like what happened to me could happen to anyone,” he told Baxter. “A few clicks of the mouse and you're a felon.”

Baxter told Shearer: “Your honesty is what got you into this situation,” but added that every time an image of child pornography “appears on the screen,” a child is being abused.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly Anglin said Shearer misrepresented the case.

“I don't want it to seem like he came across this content with a few clicks of the mouse or by accident,” Anglin told Baxter. “It was no accident that he discovered it, because he had been looking for it for years.”

Contact [email protected] or 814-870-1813. Follow him on X @ETNpalatella.

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Incarcerated man reveals his penchant for child pornography during lie detector test

A 50-year-old Cambridge Springs man confessed to a lie detector test while applying for a job as a federal pilot. He blamed “a few mouse clicks.” Prosecutors say viewing child porn was “no accident.”

Prosecutor: Watching child pornography “not an accident”

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Incarcerated man reveals his penchant for child pornography during lie detector test

A 50-year-old Cambridge Springs man confessed to a lie detector test while applying for a job as a federal pilot. He blamed “a few mouse clicks.” Prosecutors say viewing child porn was “no accident.”

Prosecutor: Watching child pornography “not an accident”

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