A Cherokee County man previously convicted of child molestation has been sentenced to 17 years in federal prison for distributing child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.
Billy Gene McCorkle Jr., 46, of Canton, will be on supervised release for the remainder of his life after his release from prison, U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said in an emailed statement.
“McCorkle’s choice to continue to exploit children, even as a convicted sex offender has resulted in his exit from society” Yates said. “Recidivist offenders like this defendant prey on the most innocent in our society who depend on us to protect them. We will continue to prosecute those who traffic in these horrific images and exhibit such blatant disregard for the welfare of young children.”
Investigators identified McCorkle’s crimes by his Google email account and then obtained a search warrant to search the account, Yates’ office previously said. When agents searched McCorkle’s telephone while executing a search warrant, they found more than 13,000 images of child pornography.
McCorkle is a registered sex offender after being convicted of child molestation in Cobb County in May 2005, according to the GBI and Georgia Department of Corrections. He was released from prison in November 2012 after serving 11 months for violating his probation, records showed.
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