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A former San Mateo County probation chief convicted of possessing child pornography was sentenced Friday to 10 months in county jail and was led away from court in handcuffs.
Stuart James Forrest, 62, was also placed on three years’ probation and must register as a sex offender for life, visiting Judge Robert Atack ruled in San Mateo County Superior Court.
A jury found him guilty on July 26 of two counts of possession of child pornography. He was arrested in December 2012 after being named in a complaint by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service that alleged that he possessed child pornography on his personal computer.
He was placed on formal administrative leave on Dec. 21 and retired 10 days later on Dec. 31.
Mr. Forrest, who testified on his own behalf in his July trial, said he had collected the images and videos for the purpose of policy decisions and research into the rising onset of human trafficking.
The case was prosecuted through the state Attorney General’s office with Judge Atack presiding.
The case was turned over to the state due to the close working relationships Mr. Forrest had with San Mateo County judges and the district attorney’s office during his 34-year career with the county.
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It makes no sense whatseover that DA Wagstaffe’s office would recuse itself from the Forrest case because of a working relationship, and yet not recuse itself from the Ayres case. A number of prosecutors in the DA’s office hired Ayres to evaluate boys over the years.
I don’t know what the Postal Service inspectors have to do with child porn on a computer (unless the porn was sent thru the mail via a CD or DVD).
10 months seems like a pretty damn light sentence for such a disgusting crime.
Bob: The child porn was sent through the mail. Then they found more than 400 images on both his home and work computers.