Walker County man sentenced to 300 years in prison for child porn collection, officials say
A worker at a Walker County grocery store has been sentenced to hundreds of years in prison after a jury convicted him of possessing what officials called "massive amounts of child sexual abuse material."
On June 3, a jury found 68-year-old Mark Anthony Williams guilty on 16 counts of sexual exploitation of children by possessing child sexual abuse material.
Authorities say their investigation began with a tip in Catoosa County about a separate individual. When authorities searched that man's phone, they say they found child sexual abuse materials and a conversation between him and Williams where they exchanged photos and videos of minors and "discussed their desires to abuse children."
Prosecutors then say they identified Williams, who lived and worked at a Walker County grocery store, as a suspect. When Catoosa County detectives searched Williams' home, they found over 400 DVDs containing more than 12,000 images of videos of child sexual abuse, as well as thumb drives containing tens of thousands of children.
Homeland Security investigators later confirmed that the items contained more than 266,000 pieces of child sexual abuse material, officials said.
According to prosecutors, one of the USB flash drives contained a diary where Williams admitted to molesting a child starting when the boy was 7 years old. After his arrest, authorities say Williams confessed to collecting child pornography, taking pictures of children in public spaces, and molesting a boy in another state.
"Prosecuting child predators, like Williams, remains a top priority for our office. We thank Senior ADA Wolfe and our law enforcement partners for their dedication to the pursuit of justice for the thousands of children, both known and unknown, who were victimized by Williams," Lookout Mountain acting District Attorney Deanna Reisman said in a statement.
After the jury's verdict, a judge sentenced Williams to the maximum allowable sentence: 300 years to be served in prison, followed by 20 years of sex offender probation.
