A San Jose man was slapped with a five-year prison sentence today for his vile collection of child pornography, officials said. Brian Risso, 63, faced the music before U.S. District Judge Beth L. Freeman handed down the 60-month sentence, as announced by U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey and the FBI's leading man in the Bay Area, Robert K. Tripp.
Risso, who had previously admitted guilt in his plea agreement on June 8, 2023, was caught red-handed with a trove of illegal materials in February 2022, including 513 images and 29 videos depicting minors in explicit scenes, according to the Department of Justice, he had pleaded guilty confessing to the crime, yet the depth of his depravity was further unveiled at sentencing, where it was revealed his collection included images of prepubescent minors and those partaking in sadistic or masochistic acts.
Beyond confinement, Risso's freedom will be checked with a leash of supervised release spanning an additional 60 months once he exits prison, and his wallet will take a hit for his crimes to the tune of $25,000, along with a $5,100 special assessment. Moreover, on April 9, there's a scheduled court hearing where they'll hash out details of restitution, Judge Freeman ordered.
A maintenance worker for the city of Campbell, Risso's fall from societal grace was precipitous, given the proximity of his workplace to a preschool—a fact that paints a chilling backdrop to his illegal activities when unearthed by federal agents, and in his own words during an interview cited by the Mercury News, "That's the paradox," Risso told FBI Special Agent Benjamin Burnheimer, "I see, like some kids walking around and I go, God you know, what was I, why was I looking at this? I don't know. It's one for the books."
His case was a grim checkpoint in the broader struggle against the scourge of child exploitation, with Assistant United States Attorney Neal C. Hong spearheaded the prosecution, all stemming from an FBI investigation that included around 233,000 "manifest keys" on his personal Apple iMac linked to the clandestine online sharing of this illegal material.
