Urbanski sentenced to 10 years for child porn

MADISON – A Superior man whose interest in young girls “made him a danger to the community,” was sentenced Thursday in federal court to 10 years in prison for possessing child pornography.

Timothy D. Urbanski, 48, who endured a number of medical and physical issues since birth, has had trouble distinguishing between fantasy and reality, said District Judge Barbara Crabb. To his detriment, some of his fantasies involve young girls.

Superior police learned of his prurient interest when the mother an 8-year-old girl brought them a cell phone containing child pornography that Urbanski had given her daughter to take pictures with, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Altman.

A search warrant conducted at Urbanski’s North 14th St. residence in July 2011 recovered several computers and electronic storage devices that contained 1,153 images of identified victims of child pornography, said Altman.

Superior Police Detective. Thomas Champaigne, who testified during the 2 and a half hour sentencing hearing, that he initially thought he was investigating a pornography producer when he saw the name of the 8-year-old girl on some computer files and directories.

However, the girl’s photograph wasn’t among the pictures authorities recovered and she told police she wasn’t harmed by Urbanski, said Champaigne. Police also recovered a video Urbanski made while following a mother and a young girl in a Duluth mall. Young girl’s clothing stained with Urbanski’s semen was recovered from his residence during the search, said Champaigne.

Urbanski explained the pornographic images police found among his belongings were part of his campaign to rid the internet of child pornography by downloading, printing and shredding them.

“If only that worked,” said District Judge Barbara Crabb.

Champaigne said he couldn’t find anyone else who had heard of Urbanski’s efforts and paper found in his shredder didn’t appear to be images.

Altman didn’t find Urbanski a credible person as he has maintained his child either died in an accident or, was abducted and killed despite none of Urbanski’s family would confirm Urbanski had a child.

A psychological evaluation found Urbanski to be “manipulative” and he said he heard voices, although he reported experiencing no other such imaginary phenomena, said Altman.

Altman asked Crabb to impose a 10-year sentence saying he was “a danger to the community.”

Crabb agreed, although she acknowledged Urbanski had a difficult childhood stemming from being raised by an alcoholic father and a mother with a bipolar disorder. His physical deficiencies kept him from working his adult life.

“Your physical, mental and emotional problems make you a sympathetic person but not your actions,” Crabb said.

The judge imposed the statutory maximum punishment based his downloading hundreds of pictures of prepubescent children, with some images depicting sadistic and violent acts performed on them, and sharing them by email with others.

“Even in the realm of child pornography, this is pretty disgusting,” she said.

Urbanski, who had been in custody since July2011, will be assigned to federal prison with a recommendation he receive sex offender treatment and mental health counseling as needed.

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