Coolidge man sentenced to more than 15 years for possessing sexually explicit images of children

(FLORENCE, AZ) - A Coolidge man has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for possessing sexually explicit images of children.

On May 1st, 2023, Pinal County Superior Court Judge Steven Fuller sentenced Brian Patterson, 35, to 17 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections, followed by lifetime probation.

Patterson pled guilty to Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, a Class Two Felony and Dangerous Crime Against Children, and Sexual Exploitation of a Minor in the Second Degree, a Class Three Felony and Preparatory Dangerous Crime Against Children.

In 2022, law enforcement was contacted by Patterson’s ex-girlfriend. According to court documents, the ex-girlfriend and Patterson had broken up, but Patterson let her know the dog they owned together passed away. Afterwards, the woman received a notification that Patterson uploaded photos to a photo-sharing account via Google that the woman had access to through an old email address. The woman indicated she thought Patterson had uploaded photos of the dog, and instead she found sexually explicit images of children. The woman told Coolidge Police Patterson must not have known she still had access to the photo-sharing account. Investigators were able to view the uploaded photos and confirmed the existence of sexually explicit images of children. A search warrant was obtained for the Google account, which confirmed Patterson as the account holder and also revealed additional illicit material.

###