OCEAN CITY — A West Ocean City man indicted in February on federal child pornography possession charges pleaded guilty this week in U.S. District Court and now faces as many as 20 years in prison.
Lawrence King III, 41, was arrested last October and charged with 13 counts of possession of child pornography when members of the Maryland State Police Computer Crimes Unit served a warrant on his Golf Course Rd. home after receiving information from authorities in Anne Arundel County. King is a registered sex offender living in West Ocean City after a 2002 conviction in Baltimore on a sexual abuse of a minor charge, a conviction for which he was sentenced to 10 years in jail, all suspended.
The investigation into King’s most recent activities began when the Anne Arundel Police Department received information last summer the registered sex offender was in possession of child pornography. State Police troopers assigned to the Maryland Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force then assisted Anne Arundel authorities, with assistance from local law enforcement, with the execution of a search warrant on King’s West Ocean City home.
During the search of King’s home on Oct. 1, 2010, law enforcement officials recovered over 600 videos and images documenting the sexual abuse of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The images included prepubescent children as well as depictions of sadistic and masochistic activity.
King later admitted to downloading thousands of images of child pornography from the Internet, which he stored on his computer. He also admitted he had to move child pornography from his laptop to CDs and DVDs to free up space on his computer for more downloads. His formal plea agreement outlines how he catalogued the pornography by gender and age including files he labeled as his favorites.
King was charged initially in Worcester with 13 counts of possession of child pornography, but the local charges were dropped in February when he was indicted in U.S. District Court on federal child possession charges. On Wednesday, he pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court and now faces a minimum of 10 years in jail and a maximum of 20 years. A sentencing hearing is set for June 9.
The guilty plea was announced on Wednesday by the U.S. District Attorney’s Office in partnership with the FBI, Maryland State Police, Anne Arundel County Police, the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office and the Worcester County State’s Attorney’s Office.