SCRANTON - The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has affirmed the sentence of John Greene, 59. Greene is currently serving a 14-year prison sentence for receiving child pornography. Greene resided in Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania, at the time he committed the offense, and operated a business called Pack Shack Adventures.

Greene was indicted by a federal grand jury on February 16, 2010, as a result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Scranton Police, and law enforcement officers in the country of Belarus. Greene subsequently pleaded guilty to using a computer to download images of child pornography.

In his appeal, Greene claimed that his sentence was unreasonable because the district court gave undue weight to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines for child pornography offenses. Greene argued that those guidelines merit minimal deference because they are not supported by empirical data or nationwide experience. Greene also argued that the sentencing court abused its discretion by refusing to grant a downward variance based on his serious medical and physical problems.

In upholding the sentence as reasonable, the court ruled the judge properly considered the sentencing guidelines along with other relevant sentencing factors, including Greene’s health problems.