SEPTEMBER 10--A Florida man who told police that his cat somehow downloaded child pornography onto his computer was sentenced this week to more than 12 years in prison.

Keith Griffin, 49, pleaded no contest to 25 felony counts stemming from a probe launched last year by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office. The Jensen Beach man, who worked as a Sears salesman, was targeted after investigators determined he was using a file sharing site to distribute child pornography.

When agents last July raided Griffin’s home (which he shared with his teenage son) he “stated he has accidentally seen child pornography while using Limewire,” but that he would “usually delete” those files, according to a sheriff’s report excerpted here.

Griffin, investigators noted, added that, “sometimes he would leave the computer on and his cat would jump on the keyboard and he would come back to the computer and find strange things on his computer.” He did not further describe how his talented cat succeeded in downloading these “strange things,” or what he did with these files.

Asked about his online interests, Griffin told deputies that, “I will look at anything and everything on the web, and have, and done so.” He added that, “it doesn’t bother me seeing boys or men and men going at it…that’s fine.” His activities, Griffin assured investigators, were “innocent, it’s not malicious…I’ve downloaded a variety of porn. I find a variety is interesting.”

Griffin, pictured in the above mug shot, will be imprisoned until early-2022. The cat, who has not been named, was not charged. (3 pages)