STATESVILLE (AP) – A former Lincolnton banker and small business owner has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison for using a social media website to view and distribute child pornography.
Federal officials say James Paul Byrd, 40, was sentenced this week. A federal judge also gave him 10 years of probation and ordered him to register as a sex offender after he’s released.
Byrd pleaded guilty last year to several child pornography charges. Authorities say the former branch manager at First Federal Savings Bank used Facebook to share child pornography with co-defendants from across the country.
FBI agents found numerous computer and images of child pornography during a search of Byrd’s home in 2010.