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Farrell Corrway
(COURTESY: Walsh Visa Program)
Authorities were alerted to Farrell Corrway by the mother of a girl coerced into sending naked photos to someone she thought was a 14-year-old boy.
The upstate New York mom contacted a juvenile affairs officer for the Batavia (N.Y.) Sheriff’s Office more than two years ago, The Batavian reports.
The officer, looking to confirm the identity of the “boy,” discovered he was actually Corrway, who was in the U.S. on a special travel visa, it says.
Corrway had “built up clusters of online contacts on Facebook and other sites throughout the United States,” according to the site.
The officer then contacted the FBI, it says.
The Batavian and CLIFFVIEW PILOT teamed up on stories about Corrway that appear on both sites:
Mother helps catch Irish citizen facing 20 years in prison for child porn (The Batavian)
Irish national admits coming into Newark Airport with child porn (CVP)
FBI agents monitoring him put Corrway on a watch list. Their counterparts with U.S. Customs and Border Protection then grabbed him in September 2010 as he tried to board a flight for Ireland in Newark.
Soon after, they found the hard drive, which U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said contained images of prepubescent minors and “portrayals of sadistic conduct or other depictions of violence to children.”
Corrway had been to the U.S. before, as part of the Irish Peace Process Cultural and Training Program, which enabled unemployed young adults from Ireland the opportunity to live and work here for up to 24 months.
It became known as the Walsh Visa Program in honor of Congressman James Walsh of New York, who introduced and sponsored the program legislation, approved by Congress in 1998. It was discontinued four years ago.
Corrway took a plea in May:
U.S. District Judge William J. Martini imposed the sentence today in Newark.
Fishman credited special agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI for the investigation leading to the plea. He also thanked the Customs & Border Protection officers.
Handling the case is Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee M. Cortes Jr. of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark.
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