Man sentenced for using son in child-porn conspiracy

Tim Evans | The Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS -- A man who made his young adopted son available to at least eight other people for sex was sentenced to 40 years in prison Friday.

Mark J. Newton, 42, an American who had been living in Australia, was handed the maximum sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to sexually exploit a minor and conspiracy to posses child pornography. Federal Judge Sarah Evans Barker said she accepted the plea agreement because the crime was too horrific for a jury.

The case was prosecuted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana because images of the sex acts involving the young boy were found on the computer of an Anderson, Ind., man in a larger child exploitation and pornography investigation, U.S. Attorney Joseph Hogsett said.

The child victim, identified in court as Boy 1, was made available for sex to at least eight men when he was between the ages of 2 and 6, according to court documents made public Friday.

Records in the case had been sealed since Newton was charged in February 2012. Also facing charges in the case are Peter Truong, 36, an Australian citizen identified in court records as Newton's "domestic partner;" John R. Powell, 41, of Florida; and Jason Bettuo, 36, a resident of Illinois.

Truong has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing on charges of conspiring to sexually exploit a child, as well as charges of possessing child pornography. Bettuo has filed a petition in federal court expressing his intent to enter a plea of guilty, and Powell's case is still pending as he awaits trial.

"For more than one year and across three continents, these men submitted this young child to some of the most heinous acts of exploitation that this office has ever seen," Hogsett said after the sentencing.

Court records indicate Newton paid a foreign woman $8,000 for her newborn baby in 2005 and that he and Truong then adopted the child.

Videos uncovered by the investigation depicted Truong and Newton engaging in sex acts with the boy when he was approximately 22 months old, court records revealed. They also traveled to the United States, France and Germany to allow others to engage in sex acts with the child.

Many of those encounters were photographed and videotaped by Newton or others and distributed to a close-knit group of people in several countries.

Newton and Truong were arrested in California in early 2012.

Testimony in court also revealed the child was coached by Newton on how to respond to investigators to deny any inappropriate activity.

Newton entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors last summer.

Contributing: The Associated Press