Thomas Raymus

MARQUETTE –Thomas Charles Raymus of Marquette was sentenced Friday.

Raymus pleaded guilty to 10 counts of child sexually abusive activity on March 9. Child sexually abusive activity is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

He was originally charged with one count of child sexually abusive activity and one count of using a computer to commit a crime. However, further investigation uncovered that he had downloaded thousands of images of child sexually abusive material from the internet. Raymus was charged with a total of 32 counts related to his criminal activities.

On Friday, Raymus was sentenced to serve six to 20 years in prison on each count. This means he will not be eligible for parole until he has served his minimum sentence of six years. By law, the sentences will run concurrently.

Marquette County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Andy Griffin, who prosecuted the defendant, stated, “Mr. Raymus spent many months downloading, saving, and viewing horrendous images of children, including prepubescent children, being sexually exploited and raped by adults. These are not victimless crimes. Each image documents the destruction of a young child’s innocence, and the repeated downloading and viewing of these images continues to victimize these children year after year, while continuing to feed the demand market that fuels the creation of these horrible images.”

The case was investigated by the Marquette Police Department and the Michigan State Police Computer Crimes Unit, Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.