10 years in prison for child porn; Man had record of child abuse.

• Position: LOCAL NEWS

Byline: Lee Hammel

WORCESTER - A federal judge yesterday sentenced a Shrewsbury man to the maximum sentence - 10 years - for possession of child pornography, saying that it is more important to protect the public than to take into account the horrid child abuse the man said he grew up with.

David Ladeau, 55, of 6 Williamsburg Court, Shrewsbury, was arrested in spring 2009 in an international child pornography investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency shortly after Mr. Ladeau was sentenced to probation in Westboro District Court for molesting a 12-year-old boy. Mr. Ladeau was the organist and choir director of a local church and showed pornographic films to and molested a boy who was staying at his house in connection with a trip Mr. Ladeau had organized.

Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV noted letters that Mr. Ladeau sent in code to his brother while he was in detention after his arrest on the federal charges. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karin M. Bell said that letters, which investigators decoded, told his brother, Daniel Ladeau, how he could find more and better pornography on the Internet.

David Ladeau wrote his brother that he was in jail only because society is full of "hateful, unloving, unforgiving, uncompassionate bastards and bitches" who think that people with any sexual interest in children are monsters, the prosecutor said. He wrote "When I get out - I plan on looking for churches with ... boys' choirs."

David Ladeau told his brother that their sister told him he needs help and treatment when he gets out but "I feel bad because I feel like telling her ... I will never change," according to Ms. Bell. Mr. Ladeau also wrote "Thank God I have desires, addictions that won't go away. It's a gift that pushes me, drives me to what seems to be, unreachable goals."

Ms. Bell said in U.S. District Court that she would have asked Judge Saylor to sentence Mr. Ladeau to more than 10 years if the law permitted it.

As a result of the letters, Daniel Ladeau also was arrested and charged in federal court in Tennessee and, Ms. Bell said, admitted to molesting about 100 young boys.

Defense lawyer John H. LaChance said Mr. Ladeau's offenses stem from problems he had no control over, including...