Irish citizen facing 20 years in prison for child porn caught because of a Genesee County mother

A concerned Genesee County mother has helped put a child pornographer -- an Irish national living in New Jersey -- in federal prison, according to John Dehm, juvenile officer for the Sheriff's Office.

The mother contacted Dehm more than two years ago, upset because her daughter had been coerced into sending nude pictures of herself to a 14-year-old boy she met on Facebook.

Dehm decided to try and confirm the boy's identity.

The investigator was able to contact one of the 14-year-old's Facebook friends in Colorado and question him about his knowledge of the boy.

The Colorado teen was certain, he said, that the 14-year-old boy attended his school.

When Dehm checked with school officials, no children by that name were registered there.

Through his investigation, Dehm was able to determine that the suspect was an adult male posing as a teenager who'd built up clusters of online contacts on Facebook and other sites throughout the United States.

Seeing where the case was headed, Dehm contacted the FBI.

Federal investigators identified the suspect as Farrell Corrway, now 29, and began monitoring his online activity.

When Corrway announced on Facebook his intention to return to Ireland, the FBI contacted ICE and agents placed him on a watch list.

On Sept. 7, 2010 Corrway checked in for his flight in Newark and border agents pulled him aside and asked him if there was anything in his bags he would be concerned about letting them look at.

Corrway became visibly nervous, Dehm said.

Agents conducted a search of Corrway's belongings and detected several images of child pornography on an external hard drive in his possession.

An eventual forensic examination of the hard drive would reveal more than 600 images, some of them quite disturbing, according to one report.

Corrway entered a guilty plea in federal court May 31 to one count of transportation of child pornography. He faces from five to 20 years in federal prison. Sentencing is set for Sept. 11.

Corrway was in the U.S. on a travel visa. It was his second trip to America, with the first as part of a 24-month cultural exchange with Ireland known as the "Walsh Visa Program."

Dehm said the case points out the need for parents to be vigilant about their children's online activity.

There are people out there, he said, who will pose as a cool, 14-year-old kid to compromise the safety of children.

Photo: Courtesy of colleague and fellow indie online publisher Jerry DeMarco, of the Cliffview Pilot.