ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An Anchorage psychotherapist specializing in treating children was sentenced to 22 years in prison for child pornography crimes in federal court on Monday.
48-year-old Andrew William Young was to 264 months in prison for taking photos of a boy, believed to be approximately 12-years-old, and 240 months in prison for receiving and possessing sexually explicit videos and images of hundreds of other children.
Investigators found over 747 videos, and 4,300 pictures of child pornography that included material depicting bestiality with children, bondage with sexual abuse of children, and sadistic or masochistic conduct, and depictions of violence in Young’s collection.
In court documents, Young said he was embarrassed and his involvement was for research purposes.
Judge John Sedwick noted in the sentencing that Young’s crimes “steal children’s childhood. I can’t imagine a worse thief.”
Young worked as a psychotherapist, counselor and educator over his adult lifetime, and had no criminal record, according to assistant U.S. attorney Audrey J. Renschen.
