No one starts his or her life wanting to have a drug habit and the pitfalls that come with it.

“I was the type of guy that when I walked into a room people would smile,” said Francis H. Cavone Jr. during a telephone interview with the Haverford-Havertown Patch late Wednesday afternoon.

But everything changed for Cavone five years ago, he said. After dealing with the pressures of an unhappy marriage, gaining weight and having his fingers cut off during a work-related accident and then meeting a younger woman with a cocaine habit, Cavone, who said he does not even drink, started to take the drug at the age of 34.

Five years later, Cavone has been sentenced this past Monday to nine to 23 months in prison in a child pornography case.

On Wednesday morning in the Delaware County District Attorney’s office, Erica Parham, assistant district attorney, explained to Patch that Cavone, 40, was sentenced for dissemination of child pornography, a felony in the third degree, and the criminal use of a communications device, which is another felony in the third degree. On Dec. 19, Cavone entered a guilty plea to the charges.

He was also sentenced to seven years of concurrent probation and he has to forfeit his computer, she said.

According to court documents, Cavone has to also submit to a DNA testing and a psychosexual evaluation. He will also have to register as a Megan’s Law sex offender.

“Mr. Cavone is not required to complete sex offender treatment while incarcerated. He will, however, be required to comply with the rules of the Sex Offenders Unit of Adult Probation & Parole for the duration of his sentence. Among those rules is a requirement to attend and comply with sex offender treatment (generally in the form of weekly group therapy sessions),” wrote Cavone’s attorney Steven Pacillio in an email to Patch on Wednesday afternoon.

Cavone, a Havertown resident, was charged with 100 counts of possession of child pornography on his computer this past June. But in July, nearly 98 percent of the charges were dismissed or reduced, as a part of the negotiated waiver of a preliminary hearing.

Speaking About The Child Porn Investigation

When the Haverford Township police came to his home back in June during an investigation of child pornography being downloaded to his computer, Cavone, now a father of five boys, said it was a blessing.

“I’m glad it ended because I wanted it to end,” he said about his drug abuse, vowing never to do it again. “The police are doing a great job and they saved my life.”

He blames the cocaine for making him look at that type of pornography, he explained. When he was high he could not think straight and was not aware of what he was searching, Cavone said.

“I wasn’t targeting younger kids. It was what were in the files,” he explained.

However, according to a police report, Cavone admitted to police that he used the file-sharing program FrostWire to search for pornography, eventually specifically child porn. The police report stated that when Cavone got high he would look for child porn, but then felt guilty afterward.

But Cavone claimed that he searched for images of incest, but the picture and video files that came up were also tagged as child pornography. He also claimed that he did not know what was in the files and did not have the software to open most of them once they were downloaded onto his computer.

Cavone told Patch that it was the drugs that made him do it and claimed that he never looked at that type of pornography before he started abusing cocaine. But he said that ultimately he takes responsibility for what has happened.

“I can’t excuse what I did,” he said, adding, “The kids in those pictures are ruined. I wish I could get that stuff off the Internet.”

Talking About His Fears Of Going To Jail and His Fears For His Sons

In addition to the requirements placed on him as part of his sentencing, Cavone explained that for 60 days he will have a monitor attached to him to track his movements.

Once the 60 days are finished, Cavone said that he will spend four months straight in jail and after that he will spend 45 weekends in prison.

But going to jail is the tough part for him.

“I’m going to be in jail with people I don’t want to be with,” he said, admitting that he is afraid that he will be a target. “I have to go to jail and be in protective custody. I’m scared to go to jail.”

He is also upset that he has to register as a Megan’s Law sex offender because he said it means he will be “in a group of guys who have actually touched kids.”

Cavone has five boys, between the ages of 11 years old to 6 months old. The two older children are with their mother, his ex-wife in New Jersey, while the younger ones are with their mother, Cavone’s girlfriend.

But his biggest fear is that one day his 11-year-old son will search his father’s name on the Internet and discover his father’s crimes and ask him the tough questions.

“I don’t know how I’m going to answer them,” he admitted.

Another fear that he has is that if older children find out the truth, his own boys will be picked on and bullied.

But having people already know why he was arrested has had an effect on him when it concerns his children. Cavone said he used to drop one of his sons off at a day care center, but he had to stop once the public found out about his charges.

“No one knows what it’s like to have your name smeared in the paper,” he said.

Getting Help and Moving On

Cavone admitted that he was out of control when he was taking cocaine and that now he is trying to turn his life around. He helped the young woman he was involved with, his girlfriend who has had drug problems all of her life, to get clean, he stated.

Now Cavone said that since his arrest last June, he has been seeing a therapist and stopped taking cocaine since April 10, 2011.

Having gone back to school to learn about electricity and solar power, the Havertown man said he wants to rebuild himself. He has always worked with his hands, such as landscaping or working with cars. And he is fortunate to still be able to work with his hands.

While working on a car as a mechanic he had an accident to his left hand where his ring and index fingers and thumb were cut off but were later reattached, Cavone said that he is lucky to be able to use them. However his middle finger could not be reattached.

Once he gets out of jail, he wants to continue his education and to help those who suffer from alcohol or drug abuse.

“I want to make something positive out of this situation,” Cavone exclaimed.