Man sentenced on federal porn charges
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AUGUSTA, GA (WIS) - A Lexington man will spend the next 20 years in prison and the rest of his life on supervised release for a federal porn conviction.
60-year-old George Ward was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court. Ward pleaded guilty in February to distribution of child pornography. Ward is also required to register as a sex offender.
Prosecutors say Ward used a file-sharing network to distribute more than 700 images of child pornography. Investigators say Ward also used online chats to try to trade child pornography and arrange to meet a 14 year old girl for sex.
Ward was arrested in September of 2011 by officers who met him at a place where he had arranged to meet a 14-year-old girl for sex. The teen Ward thought he was communicating with was an undercover law enforcement officer.
Investigators from the Richland County Sheriff's Department, FBI, Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Columbia County Sheriff's Office worked on the case.
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