U.S. Coast Guard vs. Andrew W. Betnar: 12 Month Suspension of License and MMC After Conviction for 199 Counts of “Encouraging Child Sexual Abuse”
New York, NY
By: MLAA
U.S. Coast Guard-licensed mariner Andrew Betnar of Warrenton, Oregon was found guilty of 199 counts of “encouraging child sexual abuse” in the Clatsop County Circuit Court in the state of Oregon.
Betnar was found to have downloaded hundreds of sexually explicit photos of children from the internet and then recorded the images onto compact discs.
The case began when Betnar’s wife found photographs in their home that included “pictures…of children involved in some…sexual encounters."
When his wife confronted him with the photographs, Betner said “that he didn't want her to look at them, that he didn't want to discuss them, and to ‘leave it alone.’" According to court records, Betnar “seemed worried and embarrassed by the photographs” and his wife returned the photographs to him.
However, several years later Betnar and his wife “began suffering marital difficulties,” and his “wife worried about retaining custody of their children.”
The wife hired a divorce attorney and told the attorney about the photographs she found that depicted children in sexual encouters. The attorney then reported the existence of the photographs to the City of Warrenton Police Department. The attorney and Betnar’s wife met with police and gave police 24 photographs.
Based on the information provided by the wife, police obtained a search warrant and searched Andrew Betnar’s home, a storage unit, and other locations. During searches, police seized computer floppy disks, CD-ROMs, and a computer. Among thousands of images seized, either printed or found on computer storage media, the state ultimately relied at trial on 12 images found on defendant's computer hard drive, 187 images on the CD-ROMs found at the house in which defendant was staying, and one of the photographs that it had received from defendant's wife.
At trial, Betnar was found guilty on 199 of the 200 counts.
The mariner subsequently avoided prison when a judge sentenced him to 10 years of probation and also required Betnar to undergo “sex offender treatment.”
Betnar’s conviction subsequently came to the attention of the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Coast Guard brought a Suspension & Revocation action against Betnar’s merchant mariner credential (MMC) and license.
The U.S. Coast Guard then entered into a Secret Settlement Agreement with Betnar that was approved by a U.S. Coast Guard Administrative Law Judge.
Under the terms of the Secret Settlement Agreement, Betnar was allowed to keep his license and MMC and receive only a 12 month suspension of his credentials if he 1) complied with all terms of his Clatsop County probation, and 2) demonstrated to the U.S. Coast Guard that he was making “substantial positive progress towards successfully completing sex offender treatment.”
Finally, the Coast Guard required that Betnar provide the Coast Guard “with a letter from his sex treatment counselor indicating that he is a low risk of committing a sex-related offense.”
After abiding by the terms of the Secret Settlement Agreement, Betnar’s license and credentials were returned to him.
Andrew Betnar subsequently appealed his Oregon conviction, in part on Constitutional grounds, but his appeal was rejected and his conviction upheld (See State of Oregon vs. Betnar).