A student working toward his doctorate in chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh was sentenced Thursday to more than four years in federal prison for collecting sadistic child porn videos and images that a veteran prosecutor said were among the most terrible he's seen.

U.S. District Judge Mark Hornak imposed a term of 52 months on Abhijeet Das, 28, of Point Breeze, and ordered that he be deported to India after his prison term.

Das was initially charged by Pittsburgh police with downloading photos of nude girls, but federal authorities later took the case after a search uncovered a huge cache of child porn downloaded from the internet.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Karl said his office only brings the most serious child porn cases and this one was among the worst. Many of the images and videos depicted the violent rape of toddlers.

"There are things you see in these videos that you can't unsee," he said.

Das came to the U.S. last year on a student visa and said his prosecution here has devastated his family back in India. He said his hope was to relieve the burden on his parents in caring for his sister, who was born with deformed hands and arms, by taking advantage of his passion for science and becoming a success.

"I feel completely shattered that I destroyed their hopes and aspirations," he said. "They don't deserve a son like me. But they're stuck with me."

He had pleaded guilty to collecting the porn and said he initially did not realize the serious nature of the crime. He said he now understands that downloading images drives the international market for child porn, leading to further victimization of children.

As part of the sentence, Judge Hornak ordered that Das pay $1,000 each in restitution to two identified victims in the porn images.

Das will also be on probation for 10 years after prison, although that part of the sentence is largely moot because he will be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and sent back to India.

His lawyer, Samir Sarna, said Das has no intention of ever returning to the U.S.

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2018/08/02/PIttsburgh-grad-student-Abhijeet-Das-federal-prison-deportation-sadistic-child-porn-rape/stories/201808020184