Guilty plea in naval base child porn

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - A child porn case cracked by NCIS at the Newport Navy Base came up in federal court Wednesday. The accused, Jacob Cross, pleaded guilty. Only the Target 12 Investigators were in court for the hearing, and caught up with the accused.

Special agents had found dozens of graphic videos, hidden on a hard drive stashed in Cross's Navy dorm room. The court documents obtained by Target 12 stipulate when NCIS agents swept into the room, he admitted having porn stashed away.

As the 34-year-old walked into federal court Wednesday morning to face the child porn charges, he apparently decided to lie to Target 12's Tim White about his identity -- thinking he could get away with it.

As the video shows:

"Are you Mr. Cross?" asked White.

"Huh?"

"Are you Mr. Cross?"

"No," asserted the man, shaking his head.

Still, Cross couldn't lie to the judge. In court, he pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography.

"Mr. Cross, we'll try this again," said White after the court hearing. "Are you remorseful?"

An attorney tried to stonewall the reporter. "No comment at this time."

When pressed, the attorney added, "We'll discuss that in front of the judge."

According to court documents obtained by Target 12, Cross made a deal with federal prosecutors to plead guilty; in return the feds would recommend a lower sentence.

Cross is from Virginia, but he was a civilian employee working at the Newport Naval Base in 2008.

In court, prosecutors said a marine captain at the naval base noticed someone was downloading a large amount of child porn via wi-fi.

NCIS tracked the data to Cross, and seized two laptops and an external hard drive from his room on the base. The documents show Cross told the NCIS agents he downloaded the porn "a long time ago," and "was willing to accept any penalty."

The court documents also said some of the videos depict girls -- as young as ten years old -- engaged in sexual activity with adults.

Cross was released on bond, and faces up to ten years when he's sentenced in June. A Navy spokesperson said Wednesday Cross's construction job did not bring him in contact with children.