A 58-year-old Ashley man has entered an Alford Plea in Jefferson County Court to nine counts of child pornography. With an Alford plea, Robert Paul of North Riddle Lane admitted prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him, but still denied guilt. The plea came after a jury was selected to hear the case. Two other counts of criminal sexual assault of a family member under 18 were severed from the child pornography charges and are still pending.
Sentencing on the child pornography charges is set for February 27th. All the charges require a three-to-seven-year prison term with time to run consecutive. Jefferson County prosecutors say as a result Paul faces a 27-to-63-year prison term plus any additional time he may receive in the remaining two criminal sexual assault charges.
Paul was arrested in October of last year when coming to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to inquire why deputies had earlier been at his home. The investigation was initiated through the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force after they received a cyber tipline information of suspected child pornography. The information led to multiple search warrants for electronic records and eventually a search warrant for Paul’s home in September of last year that resulted in multiple pieces of evidence being collected and seized.
Assistant States Attorney’s Blake Jennings and Brian Merrill were handling the jury trial.
