Two men convicted in separate cases of distributing child pornography each got similar sentences Thursday: 15 years in prison. Both are also previously convicted sex offenders, authorities said.
Johnny Lee Cole, 43, of Stone Mountain provided an undercover agent with numerous images and a video depicting child pornography in an investigation that began in November, according to U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. More pornographic images where found on Cole’s computer, Yates said.
“Children are victimized when the images and videos are produced, and are victimized repeatedly each time the images are distributed to others,” Yates said in an emailed news release.
In 2003, Cole was convicted in DeKalb County Superior Court of enticing a child for indecent purposes. Thursday, he was sentenced to 15 years 8 months in prison.
A Roswell man was also sentenced Thursday following his conviction in March. Mark Twain Heaton III, 40, will spend 15 years in prison, followed by 15 years of supervised release, Yates said.
Between December and January, Heaton transmitted several images depicting child pornography to undercover FBI agents and a Georgia sheriff’s office, Yates’s office said. Investigators also recovered from his home computer images of young children being assaulted.
Local law enforcement agencies were involved in investigations involving both men.
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