A 49-year-old Palmer man was sentenced in federal court Tuesday for sexually exploiting children more than a decade ago.
A federal judge sentenced Robert Cunningham on six counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, using two children to produce child pornography, according to a release from the Alaska U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Cunningham’s crimes occured between September 2002 and May 2003 in Palmer. In that eight months, he used his large physical presence, pressing his victims against the wall and ceiling to show that the children were “powerless against him,” the release says of Cunningham, who is 6-foot-5 and more than 300 pounds. He also used nitrous oxide to force the children — who were approximately 8 and 12 years old at the time – to cooperate.
Cunningham was previously convicted of possession of child pornography in 2001, the release says, and was also convicted in state court for abusing the children.
U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason issued Cunningham the maximum sentences allowable on each of the charges — 50 years for two of the counts and 30 years on the remaining four counts. The U.S. attorney’s office says those sentences will run concurrently to each other and to Cunningham’s 88-year sentence in state court.
Gleason expressed concern that should Cunningham ever be released from prison, “children would be at risk of sexual exploitation.” That played a factor in her sentencing, the release says. She ordered that if Cunningham was ever released, that he remain supervised for the rest of his life.
“There is no feasible way to protect the public at whatever age [Cunningham] might be,” Gleason said in the release, adding that his use of nitrous oxide bordered on torture.
The children that Cunningham victimized are now adults, the U.S. attorney’s office says.