Registered RI Sex Offender Sentenced to 10 Years for Using Restaurant WiFi to Access Child Porn

Registered RI Sex Offender Sentenced to 10 Years for Using Restaurant WiFi to Access Child Porn

A registered sex offender arrested while sitting in a restaurant parking lot accessing the business’ Wi-Fi feed in order to view child pornography was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in federal prison for possessing child pornography.

Vincent J. Siravo, 41, of Westerly, convicted in Rhode Island state court in 2008 for possessing child pornography, was arrested on October 16, 2019, by members of the Rhode Island State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, who had developed information that on multiple occasions a device was connecting to an IP address assigned to the South Kingstown restaurant that was accessing a file sharing network and possessed files of child pornography.

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A State Police Detective discovered Siravo sitting in his car with a laptop computer on his lap. Siravo, who was uncooperative and provided a false name to law enforcement, was identified through his vehicle registration and determined to be a Level 1 sex offender.

A court-authorized forensic review of Siravo’s computer revealed approximately 2,200 video files and approximately 1,600 images depicting child pornography. Among the child pornography files identified were files downloaded by someone using the restaurant IP address on March 21 and March 22, 2017.

At sentencing on Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy sentenced Siravo to 120 months in federal prison to be followed by a term of 15 years supervised release. Siravo was ordered to pay a mandatory assessment of $5,000 as provided for in the Justice for Victims Trafficking Act.