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player ready...Calling it “the single most disturbing case” he’d seen in 12-plus years on the bench, U.S. District Judge Philip Simon handed down a life sentence for Daniel Eckstrom on Tuesday — more than a year after the Lake Station man had pleaded guilty to producing and distributing thousands of child pornography images.
Eckstrom, 32, received a total of 240 years in prison for multiple charges dealing with having sex with and filming three minor girls, then possessing and distributing the videos and images via his Yahoo email and various peer-to-peer networks. His sentence was enhanced for producing sadomasochistic images, preying on sleeping girls, plying one girl with marijuana and engaging in a pattern of abuse over several years.
From 2008 to 2012, Eckstrom has admitted to molesting one girl — known as Jane Doe No. 1 — starting when she was 8 years old. The other two victims were 6 or 7 years old and 9 or 10 years old. He has agreed to pay $250,000 in restitution to Jane Doe No. 1 as part of a settlement, but his financial situation is such that the victim is unlikely to see much of that money, Simon said.
“(Eckstrom’s) conduct was dastardly, pick an adjective,” Simon said. “He stole her childhood. There are some things in this world that are truly unforgivable, and preying on a defenseless child … is one of them.”
With a map of the United States, U.S. Attorney Jill Koster demonstrated the reach of Eckstrom’s pornography distribution, as 10,528 images of Jane Doe No. 1 have been found in the possession of other defendants in 29 states during the course of other criminal child pornography investigations.
“This is not to say that only 10,528 images of Jane Doe No. 1 exist in 29 states,” Koster said. “There’s probably a person in every single state that possesses an image of Jane Doe No. 1 being abused by the defendant and probably in every country around the world. We’re able to catch and prosecute a very small percentage of people (who share images).”
Joan Akalaonu, one of Jane Doe No. 1’s attorneys, discussed the anger and rage that her client feels to this day.
“She was left feeling that there was nothing in her life but this abuse,” Akalaonu said. “Jane says, ‘I even felt like killing myself because of him. He is still causing me pain. I feel a lot of anger … sometimes I feel like hurting someone, but mostly I just want to die.'”
Jane struggles with feelings of rage and hopelessness and regularly experiences nightmares of her abuse, her attorney said.
“She fears that the defendant will send someone to grab her,” Akalaonu said. “Jane struggles to form relationships as she is constantly worrying if they have seen images of her abuse. She can never just relax and form relationships, so she’s lonely and isolated.”
Before the sentence was handed down, Eckstrom said that he was remorseful for his actions.
“I feel horrible for what I went through, what she went through,” Eckstrom said. “I know now that I could never do something like this again.”