Kinston man faces child porn sentencing
By From staff reports
Published in News on May 2, 2013 1:46 PM
WILMINGTON -- A Kinston accountant pleaded guilty in federal court this week to a charge of possessing child pornography.
William Walter Barker, 44, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of receipt of child pornography. The minimum sentence is five years in prison. The maximum sentence is 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 and a lifetime of supervised probation.
Barker was attending a Fremont Town Board meeting, where he was conducting an audit of the town's finances when a thumb drive from his computer was accidentally left behind.
When the thumb drive was opened it contained images of child pornography, along with other documents belonging to Barker.
A subsequent search of his home on Nov. 29, 2012, led to Barker admitting that the thumb drive was his. A laptop computer recovered during the search of Barker's home contained more than 4,000 images and 100 videos of child pornography.
Federal officials said the case is part of the Project Safe Childhood initiative, a national program aimed at ensuring that criminals exploiting children are effectively prosecuted by making full use of all available law enforcement resources at every level.
The investigation was conducted by the SBI and the Fremont Police Department.