Maximum sentence imposed on Kansan who talked of roasting and eating children

A Kansas man whose gruesome online chats about killing, roasting and eating children shocked even hardened child porn investigators was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison. And when investigators seized data from Michael D. Arnett’s computer last May, they found images of a naked and unidentified boy, no more than 2 years old, lying in a roasting pan and sitting in an oven. Agents determined the pictures had been taken in Arnett’s home, court records said. Still, authorities said at the sentencing hearing that neither Arnett nor Ronald William Brown of Largo, Fla., ever acted on the grisly fantasies found in their online discussions.

Arnett, 38, of Roeland Park, pleaded guilty to one count of production of child pornography in February, hoping to persuade a Kansas City, Kan., federal judge to sentence him to only 20 years in prison, rather than the 30-year maximum. But the scales of justice tipped away from the former paramedic who had an easy way with children when the father of the child in the roasting pan stepped up to testify. The horror of the year since Arnett’s arrest was clear in the father’s soft voice. “That ain’t something to play with,” the father said. “That should never have been done. You were dealing with kids.”

http://www.kansascity.com/2013/05/29/4262891/maximum-sentence-imposed-on-kansan.html