A Pittsburgh woman will serve 7½ years in federal prison after being sentenced Monday for distributing child pornography depicting the sexual abuse of an infant.
Marissa Lynn Segal, 32, will also serve 10 years of supervised release and pay $13,000 in restitution.
She pleaded guilty on Jan. 12 to two counts — distributing material depicting sexual exploitation of a minor, and possession of that material — before U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan.
According to federal prosecutors, Segal distributed photographs and videos of a 4-month-old child being sexually abused, including acts of bestiality, on Telegram, a mobile app.
The videos were made, court documents show, by a man in Ohio, who was sentenced in November in state court in Ohio to serve 30 years to life after pleading guilty to rape and related counts.
In a court filing, federal prosecutors said Segal’s failure to report that man’s actions in abusing the child allowed the abuse to continue and therefore “render her complicit” in his actions.
According to the FBI, Segal had been engaging in the trafficking of child sexual abuse materials for at least a year.
In a defense filing in the case, Segal’s attorney said she immediately took responsibility for her actions.
“Her only goal from the beginning was to do whatever she can to make things as right as possible,” Attorney Michael Waltman wrote. “She is disgusted with herself for both how her actions affected the children involved and how they have emotionally destroyed her family.”