A 58-year-old Blacksburg man was sentenced to 50 years in prison for possession of child pornography Monday afternoon in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

Phillip James Wyatt, 58, of Whipple Drive in Blacksburg, was sentenced to a total of 50 years in prison, one year on each of the 50 charges he had pled guilty to back in October 2007. Judge Robert M. D. Turk then suspended all, but six (6) years of the sentence. Wyatt was also given five years (5) of probation following his release from prison. I addition, he can have no contact with children or access to a computer.

Wyatt was originally charged in March 2007, with 207 counts of possession of child pornography, which had been reduced to 50 counts.

During testimony Monday, Wyatt reportedly had an online relationship with a 15-year-old female in 2003 and that he asked the juvenile if she had any pictures of herself and that the female sent nude pictures of herself, her 12-year-old cousin and several other minors.

Wyatt, who had never been married, had also met and lived with a 28-year-old female he had met on the Internet.  At the time he met her, he was 55-years-old. Testimony in court also revealed that this woman had left Wyatt after she became aware of the pornographic material he had downloaded onto his computer.

Wyatt had downloaded pornographic images of minors as young as 4-years-old and that the majority of the images involved minors between the ages of 8-and 10-years old.

Two female witnesses, one who now lives with friends in Floyd County and the other who lives in Blacksburg testified on Wyatt’s behalf.

Crystal Bishop of Floyd told the court she uses to live next door to him in Christiansburg. Bishop, who has a 4-year-old daughter, stated she knew him for about six months and only became award of the charges a couple of months ago.

“I never felt he was a threat to my daughter,” Bishop said. “I don’t think he is a bad person.”

Jean Proffitt, of Blacksburg, who said she lives about a block from Wyatt, stated she has known Wyatt for about 11 months.

“He told us about the charges,” said Proffitt, who has three daughters, ages 15,16 and 17-years-old. “I do not see him as a threat to society and he has never tried anything with my daughters.”

Proffitt also said, “I take him [Wyatt] places. I’m his transportation since he has no car and cannot get around because of his health.

It was revealed in court that Wyatt has been a diabetic since 1982 and that he takes 20-30 pills a day, plus one shot a day. It was also learned that he had a partial amputation on his right foot in 2002 and that he is currently undergoing treatment for problems on his left foot at the VA Hospital in Salem.

Wyatt, who lived in Christiansburg when the offenses took place, took the stand on his behalf. Sporting a red T-shirt and black sweat pants, he had to use a walker to move around in the courtroom.

“I admit freely that I downloaded the pictures and I know I was wrong,” said Wyatt. “I never or will ever touch a kid in a sexual way.”

Wyatt then explained how he got the pictures and that he never paid for them or traded them. “It was more out of curiosity as to why I downloaded them,” said Wyatt. “I even attempted to delete them and more would show up.”

Wyatt’s lawyer argued that there would be know real purpose for his client to be incarcerated and that the court should take in consideration that his client had never been in trouble before, he was a veteran and that he had severe medical problems.

The lawyer said that his client should be place on home electronic monitoring, since he has no car and is unable to get around.

“He never had any contact with these children and the only person Mr. Wyatt was hurting was Mr. Wyatt.”

The Commonwealth responded with the fact that Wyatt, despite his medical problems, committed these crimes during a five-year time frame, plus he had an online relationship involving a 15- and 12-year-old in 2003-2004.

Prior to sentencing, Wyatt told Judge Turk, “I know I was wrong and I am very sorry.”

Judge Turk then announced his verdict and Wyatt, who had been out on bond, was immediately taken into custody.

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