Michigan man sentenced for massive child pornography collection purchased some files while stationed at Guantanamo Bay

Apparently five warnings wasn’t enough.

A Michigan miscreant was jailed for collecting more than 40,000 images and videos of child pornography, including files he admitted were purchased while he was stationed at the Naval Station Guantanamo Bay.

David Mark Bartels, 38, was sentenced to to five years in prison and ordered to pay $63,000 in restitution on Friday.

He originally pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography by a person employed by the armed forces outside of the US in January, according to court documents, which did not provide details about his exact role at the naval base.

A five-terabyte hard drive Bartels owned held approximately 41,026 images and videos of child sexual abuse materials relating to 285 known victims, federal prosecutors said. The content was all stashed in a file titled “\NSFW\Nope\Dont open\You were Warned\Deeper\.”

Officials asserted that Bartels used the Tor browser, which masks online traffic, to scan the dark web and access the illicit content.

The case was investigated as part of the Project Safe Childhood initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the abuse and sexual exploitation of children. 

Feds have prosecuted a slew of other creepers as part of the project over the years.

In January, one Missouri man faced up to three decades in prison after he was caught trying to record a 15-year-old girl while she took a bath in her home.

In May 2023, a former Pennsylvania state trooper pleaded guilty after he was caught possessing a mountain of child pornography, specifically containing images of prepubescent minors