Tucson police officer
caught with child pornography will spend the next decade in prison.
Pima County Superior
Court Judge Jane Eikleberry sentenced Martin Louis Henry Ward on Monday to 10
years in prison for sexual exploitation of a minor followed by lifetime
probation for a second count of sexual exploitation of minor.
U.S. marshals arrested
Ward, 29, in Prescott in May in connection with a Tucson Police Department
investigation into his participation on websites that allow users to share and
download child pornography images and videos.
In a rapid stream-of-
consciousness rant at Monday’s sentencing hearing, Ward lashed out at the
Tucson Police Department, local media and his attorney.
“To the Tucson Police
Department: The next time you want to take a shot at me behind my back, aim at
my head,” Ward said.
In pseudo-prophetic
tones, Ward suggested he would produce evidence of Tucson Police Department
wrongdoing that would “eclipse” anything about his case.
Ward also attacked
media coverage of his case and past legal troubles, saying it amounted to
“collective group think” and “specious words.”
“This cup of
malevolence is overflowing, and I’m not going to drink from it,” he said.
Deputy Pima County
Attorney Frances Kreamer Hope said police found many more images and videos of
child pornography on Ward’s computer than were contained in the two counts to
which he pleaded guilty.
Kreamer Hope said the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children had identified some of the
children in the images on Ward’s computer.
Ward began as a Tucson
police officer in 2007 and resigned this year.
A TPD internal
investigation into Ward from 2012 said he knowingly consumed prescription
medication with alcohol, disobeyed direct orders, lied about a marriage and
forged documents in order to receive Family and Medical Leave benefits. Also,
Ward’s former girlfriend had an order of protection against him because of
threats he made against her.
In 2012, police
arrested Ward for assault as well.
At Monday’s
sentencing, Ward neither apologized nor accepted responsibility for any
wrongdoing.
Rather, he told the
judge his five years with the Tucson Police Department should qualify as
mitigation against the charges .