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Texas attorney pleads guilty to possessing child pornography


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Texas attorney pleads guilty to possessing child pornography

2011-05-24 07:05:11 GMT+7 (ICT)

NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) -- A Texas attorney who represented homeowners' associations and real estate developers in the Houston area was convicted on Monday after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography.

William George Gammon, 50, was a founding member and managing partner of the William G. Gammon and Associates law firm which had its offices in Houston. The firm later closed after Gammon was arrested in June 2010.

Gammon first came to the attention of authorities in November 2008 when federal investigators identified a commercial child pornography website which an undercover agent accessed and paid to join. Agents eventually obtained and executed a federal search warrant on the server and recognized log files which included e-mail addresses of subscribers. One of the user's email addresses was linked to Gammon.

But it was not until February 2009 when a second federal search warrant was executed on the website's server. This search recovered additional updated log files and, once again, one of the e-mail addresses was linked to Gammon.

Later that year, in November 2009, agents executed a federal search warrant at Gammon's Houston residence. During the search, Gammon admitted to agents that he recognized the name of the child pornography website and to having purchased a membership to the website.

Agents seized two of Gammon's laptops as well as his personal notes about child pornography websites in a notepad he kept in a locked safe at his home. A forensic exam of Gammon's laptop computers resulted in the discovery of more than 600 videos and thousands of images of child pornography.

Ironically, Gammon posted a blog post in March 2006 about whether or not homeowners' associations should notify residents when registered sex offenders live in their community. "If the Association decides to disseminate information to its residents about sex offenders, it risks increasing the scope of liability because of its actions," he wrote, warning of potential negative effects to associations and the community.

"If an Association chooses to inform the membership that a sex offender lives within the community, it must be careful regarding the manner and detail that such announcements are administered under," Gammon said in 2006. "For example, a letter sent to residents should not identify the sex offender directly, but should instruct the reader to learn more by visiting the appropriate resource."

Gammon has been free on bond since his arrest in June 2010 and will remain on bond until sentencing on August 22. He then faces a sentence of up to 10 years imprisonment and a maximum fine of $250,000 as possible punishment. He further faces a maximum of life on supervised release during which the court can impose a number of special conditions designed to protect children and prohibit the use of the Internet.

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-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-05-24

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