NORFOLK

To his friends, family and business associates, Rusty Abbott appeared to be a genuine, honest, church-going guy whose only complaint was not being able to find a nice woman.

For more than a decade, though, Abbott hid from them an insidious addiction to child pornography that he tried to manifest into action.

Abbott, a 41-year-old real estate broker and former Sunday school teacher, was sentenced Monday in federal court to 22 years in prison after pleading guilty to trying to lure, over the Internet, a 14-year-old boy from New Hampshire into a sexual relationship. The boy turned out to be an undercover police officer trying to ferret out online pedophiles.

After his arrest in October, federal agents discovered 9,692 child pornography pictures and videos on his computer. Some photos depicted children engaging in sadomasochistic conduct and others bestiality.

The agents also found evidence that Abbott acted on his urges, but he denies it, despite one photo of him removing the pants from his teen age Brazilian exchange student.

“I’m truly very embarrassed and sorry for what I’ve done,” Abbott told U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar, in a plea for leniency. “I will never do such a foolish thing again.”

Doumar sentenced Abbott to well above the five-year term the defendant had asked for. Under federal sentencing rules, Doumar could have given Abbott 50 years in prison .

“The defendant is a predator,” Doumar said, “and a horrendous problem on society.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa O’Boyle told the judge that federal agents discovered in Abbott’s home a photo of him cuddling up to a 15-year-old boy.

Abbott had boasted in online chats of having a sexual relationship with the boy beginning when the boy was 13 years old, according to court records.

Federal agents also found another photo of him removing the pants of the exchange student, who Abbott acknowledged was passed-out drunk, the court records say.

Abbott denied having inappropriate contact with any of three exchange students who had lived with him in recent years. He also told agents that his online boasts were mere “fantasies” and that he had never acted on his urges, the court records say.

O’Boyle said the incidents cannot simply be dismissed.

“It leaves the government with a very uncomfortable feeling that something actually happened here,” she told the judge.

Friends and family members testified and submitted letters to the court expressing surprise at Abbott’s secret behavior.

“I am still in shock that he would be involved in such a thing,” Abbott’s mother, Sylvia Abbott, wrote to the judge. She also tearfully testified Monday, asking Doumar to go easy on her son.

He was a typical child, she wrote, playing with toy cars and later Little League baseball. He became a junior deacon at their church and as an adult he taught Sunday school, she wrote.

Abbott is a former employee of Greenbrier Real Estate and Appraisals on Battlefield Boulevard and was active in his church, attending Bible study groups and helping with charity functions.

When Abbott gets out of prison, he will be on lifetime probation and, Doumar said, must stay away from the Internet and any pornography. The judge also ordered him to undergo treatment for pedophilia.

Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com