Madison Township man guilty of porn charges
 

By: Scott Heasley
Staff Writer
News Herald

A Madison Township man faces up to 20 years in federal prison after a jury convicted him Thursday of two charges of child pornography. It took the jury in federal court less than two hours to return a guilty verdict against Robert Noda, 54, of Madison Township.

Noda's bond was revoked, and he will remain in custody until he is sentenced in January or February.  Noda was convicted of possession of child pornography and distribution or receipt of child pornography. He was charged after federal agents and Madison Township police found 21 computer discs containing child pornography during a raid in April at his Meadows Road home. Hundreds of images of pre-pubescent children were on the discs.

Some of the images were shown to the jury during the three-day trial in Judge David D. Dowd Jr.'s court.  Noda and his attorney, David Jack, claimed someone else must have used Noda's computer to download the images. Jack also said the images could have ended up on a Noda's hard drive when he was using it to repair another computer.  The jury was unconvinced.  Jack had no comment on the verdict and said he couldn't think of any major issues that could be appealed.
 
He said another attorney would be assigned to handle an appeal. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Kern was pleased with the verdict.  Three co-defendants in the case pleaded guilty to federal charges. Noda's former girlfriend, Lynette Toth, 35, pleaded guilty possession of child pornography. Her sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.

Perry Firestone, 41, of Aberdeen Road in Madison Township, is to be sentenced Dec. 12 after pleading guilty to distribution or receipt of child pornography.

Richard Daniels, 54, of Hidden Valley Drive in Kirtland, pleaded guilty to distribution or receipt of child pornography.
His sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.

Lake County Prosecutor Charles E. Coulson dropped state charges against Noda earlier this year.
He does not intend to re-open Noda's case because there is insufficient evidence that Noda violated any state laws.
Coulson said the 10-year-old daughter of Noda and Toth is staying with a foster family.

The prosecutor will seek a court order Dec. 2 in Lake County Juvenile Court to keep the girl in foster care.