MACON — An Americus man has been sentenced to serve 10 years in prison for child pornography.
U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia G.F. Peterman III announced on Thursday that William C. Jones, age 61, of Americus, was sentenced Dec. 8 to 120 months imprisonment for possession of child pornography which had been shipped or transported for interstate commerce. U.S. District Court Judge Clay D. Land handed down the sentence in Columbus. Jones pled guilty to Count One of the indictment on Aug. 2, 2016.
According to the press release from Peterman’s office, on April 24, 2014, Jones was observed by campus staff at Columbus Technical College in Columbus looking at inappropriate photos of young boys on a computer in one of the library study rooms. Campus Security was called and when Jones realized he was being watched he immediately closed the website he was viewing. One of the officers noticed a USB flash drive in the computer that contained inappropriate images of children. Jones admitted to deputies that he was looking at underage males but denied the images were pornographic. He confirmed he had been released from prison for possession of child pornography on Jan. 6, 2014, and came to the campus a couple times a week. A search warrant for external hard drives and DVDs that belonged to Jones contained a total of 1,510 digital photos of young males ranging in ages from 8 to 18. Many of the images depicted nudity and sex.
The case was investigated by the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Secret Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Crawford Seals prosecuted the case on behalf of the Government.