Karen Farkas
Plain Dealer Reporter
11/07/03

A Lake County man accused in a suspected child pornography ring was found guilty yesterday of acquiring thousands of images. A federal jury took less than two hours to issue verdicts against Robert Noda, 54, of Madison Township.

Noda testified Wednesday he did not know that computer disks in his room contained child pornography.

Noda and Lynette Toth, 35, who lived with him, were arrested in April after Madison Township police received information about pornography during a narcotics investigation.

At the time, police said the couple lured children into their home for parties with alcohol and drugs in exchange for using the youngsters in pornographic pictures and videotapes.

But Noda, Toth and the two other defendants in the case, Perry Firestone and Richard Daniels, were charged only with obtaining and distributing images off the Internet. Lake County Prosecutor Charles Coulson said yesterday the case is still open.

Noda and Toth's 10-year-old daughter is in a foster home, Coulson said.

Daniels, 52, of Kirtland, and Firestone, 41, of Madison Township, pleaded guilty to receiving and distributing child pornography. Toth pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography. Toth and Firestone testified against Noda in exchange for lesser sentences. No one has been sentenced.

Noda testified that he worked on computers and would move folders of information from other people's hard drives to his. He said he had no idea what was on them.