SPARTANBURG MAN RECEIVES 16-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE FOR CHILD PORN CONVICTIONS

A Spartanburg man received a 16-year prison sentence today after he admitted to possessing child pornography on his home computer.

Thomas W. Turner, 38, of 777 Palmetto St., interrupted the second day of his trial to plead guilty to four counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. Circuit Judge John Few’s sentence includes an additional five years of probation and sex offender counseling.

In November of 2004, Internet provider, AOL, forwarded an alert to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding the use of a Spartanburg account holder who was attempting to send pornography through the Internet. The State Law Enforcement Division secured a search warrant and identified Turner as their suspect after taking two computers from the home.

During their investigation, SLED agents discovered 317 questionable images that had been saved to the hard drive, recovered folders that had been deleted and disks. Some of the images involved infant children.

SLED agents worked with the U.S. Customs Service to verify the authenticity of the photos. Federal law allows authorities to charge in cases that involve images of actual children and not cases where the image is computer generated.

Turner’s criminal record includes a 1998 conviction for criminal sexual conduct with a minor. In Laurens County, he received a 10-year prison sentence that was suspended to seven years of service and five years probation. The new prison sentence includes a one-year parole revocation.

“Thomas Turner has proven that he is a danger to children everywhere,” Assistant Solicitor Susan Reese said. “I hope Spartanburg residents rest easier knowing he is where he needs to be.”

Solicitor Trey Gowdy said prosecutions like this are incredibly complex and rare.

“I commend Susan for being one of a few prosecutors in the country willing to prosecute child porn found in a deleted file,” Gowdy said.