Pandemic delays prison sentence of Salinas 911 dispatcher convicted over child pornography.

On December 12, 2014, James Kovacs II, was in between shifts as a 911 dispatcher in Salinas when he powered up special software to allow him to surf the internet anonymously. He proceeded to visit a hidden website called Playpen, registering an account under the username “somedummy.”

Over the next three months, Kovacs spent nearly 17 hours logged onto Playpen and viewed numerous videos of children being raped. Meanwhile, the FBI had uncovered the identity of the person operating the child pornography website and launched Operation Pacifier to go after Playpen’s thousands of registered users.

Using network investigative techniques, the FBI found the internet address for somedummy and then served AT&T a subpoena for information. On March 15, investigators had Kovacs’ name.

Following a raid of his home and the seizure of his electronic devices, investigators found 2,868 images and 187 videos of child pornography.

“The materials depicted prepubescent minors – including infants and toddlers – engaged in sexually explicit conduct, some of which included bestiality and sadistic and masochistic abuse,” according to court records. Eventually, 123 victims were identified. An FBI agent said the collection was “one of the worst” she had ever seen.

For five years, the case wound its way through the justice system resulting in Kovacs, who is 41, pleading guilty. His sentencing hearing was set for Jan. 8, 2020, and he was facing a maximum prison term of 10 years.

In a filing submitted to federal Judge Lucy Koh, Kovacs’ attorneys, Tom and Brian Worthington, argued that their client should receive no prison time and serve probation instead. They described Kovacs as a “model citizen,” whose crimes are uncharacteristic of the rest of his life. (The Worthington Law Centre did not respond to requests for comment.)

A psychological assessment presented by Kovacs’ defense offered more reasons for leniency: “It is my professional opinion that this man’s pornography addiction and subsequent illegal behavior are a [direct] result of his own early childhood exploitation, which was further exacerbated by his job as a medic on the frontlines of war-torn Iraq,” Brandon Yakush, a clinical and forensic psychologist wrote.

A longtime resident of Soledad and emergency dispatcher since 2004, Kovacs is a churchgoing father to two children, 8 and 13 years old. His plea for leniency included letters of support from his wife and father and community members. The Kovacses are members of Compass Church in Salinas, and about a dozen congregants also wrote to the judge to vouch for him during sentencing.

The prosecution countered, asking for six-and-a-half years imprisonment and quoted from horrific statements by victims who were abused in the videos that Kovacs consumed. Judge Koh ultimately delivered a sentence of four-and-a-half years, plus five years probation.

The prison term was supposed to start on March 25, but the court granted a two-month delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic.