San Mateo Sex Offender Pleads No Contest to Possession of Child Porn

A 26-year-old registered sex offender has pleaded no contest to possession of child pornography in San Mateo County Superior Court in exchange for a maximum sentence of four years in prison.

Kent Ping Lin was at his San Mateo home on Aug. 22 after county deputy probation officers conducting a probation search of Lin's home allegedly found new images of child pornography on his computer.

Lin, who was on felony probation for a December 2010 conviction of felony possession of child pornography, was also allegedly using his iPhone to visit pornographic sites, prosecutors said.

Police seized numerous items of electronic storage media for further analysis, and prosecutors said a later examination of Lin's computer revealed dozens of downloaded photographs of girls ages 7 through 10 engaged in "explicit sexual activity" with men.

Lin to the charges in San Mateo County Superior Court in October 2011.

His initial jury trial date of Feb. 27, but due to the defense attorney's unavailability the trial was for April. On Tuesday, the day his trial was set to begin, Lin changed his plea to no contest in exchange for a maximum four-year prison sentence.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 12, and remains in custody in lieu of $90,000 bail, and a no-bail probation violation hold.

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