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Highlands Today

Man Gets 2 1/2 Years Jail Time For Child Porn

Courtesy photo

Morris Lawson

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By BRAD DICKERSON

Highlands Today

Published: February 17, 2009

SEBRING An Avon Park man pleaded no contest Monday to 16 counts of possessing photographs of child pornography.

Morris Ray Lawson, 59, of 2438 W. Greenlawn Road, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison on each count, according to assistant state attorney Steve Houchin. They are set to run concurrently for a total of two-and-a-half years.

Additionally, Lawson was sentenced to two-and-a-half years of sex offender probation following his release. The defendant was also registered as a sex offender, Houchin said.

On July 9, 2008, agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement received information that Lawson's computer contained photos of children performing sexual acts, according to a July 11 Highlands Today report.

The owners of A&D Computers in Avon Park told agents that Lawson brought in a laptop computer on July 8 for repairs.

During the process, files on the computer were backed up as part of the repair process. As they were copied, the owners noticed files with the word "child."

On July 9, the owner reported he opened the file marked "child" and saw a picture of a young female engaged in a sexual act. A copy of the disk with Lawson's back-up files was given to agents, who subsequently found a subfolder with several more photos of female children in various poses and or sexual acts, according to the report.

Lawson was eventually stopped during a traffic stop. The disk was found on his front seat, while his laptop computer was recovered from his home.

Highlands Today reporter Brad Dickerson can be reached at (863) 386-5838 or bdickerson@highlandstoday.com

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