Brobst sentenced for child pornography
By MIKE RICHESON
Bigfork Eagle
After a one-day trial, Jerry Elmo Brobst of Bigfork has been sentenced to seven years in prison for possession and receipt of child pornography.
Brobst, 62, who was sentenced on Friday in U.S. District Court in Missoula, also faces a $15,000 fine, a lifetime of supervision after his release and forfeiture of his computer equipment.
Lake County deputies arrested Brobst in July 2006 on child pornography charges after a contractor doing work at his home found pictures of a naked girl who was 6 or 7 years old.
The contractor told authorities that while moving a filing cabinet out of his way, he found a small stack of papers lying on the floor. The top paper had the photograph of the young girl, which he believed had been printed off the Internet.
A search warrant for Brobst's residence was obtained and a search conducted.
The search turned up 28 pages of printed material, most of which were pornographic images of children. Brobst came home during the search, and the police officers asked him if the pornography was his. Brobst admitted the material was his, and that the images did not belong to anyone else.
After the search was completed and numerous items of computer equipment were seized, Brobst was questioned at the Sheriff's Office. Brobst admitted that he began ordering child pornography approximately three years earlier. Brobst said he had gotten interested in child pornography as it was "forbidden fruit." Brobst admitted that he had printed the child pornography images found by the contractor several years ago and believed they had fallen out of the filing cabinet.
A forensic analysis of the computer equipment discovered numerous images and videos of child pornography, including images of children clearly under age 12 engaged in sadistic or masochistic abuse or other depictions of violence.
Prior to his arrest and conviction, Brobst was human resources director for Flathead Electric Cooperative in Kalispell and served on the state Board of Personnel Appeals. He retired from FEC, and the governor removed him from his position with the state.
Brobst had also been an active member in the Bigfork community and local theater groups.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that Brobst will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, Brobst does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for good behavior. However, this reduction will not exceed 15 percent of the overall sentence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marcia K. Hurd prosecuted the case for the United States.
The investigation was conducted by the Lake County Sheriff's Office and the Montana Department of Criminal Investigation.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims.