Former Cordele Resident And Recidivist Sentenced On Child Pornography Charges

Michael J. Moore, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, announced that Christopher B. Wilcox, aged 41, formerly of Cordele, Georgia, was sentenced to serve a mandatory minimum of ten years (120 months) imprisonment in federal prison for possession of child pornography, followed by 15 years of supervised release.  He will also be required to register as a sex offender.  The sentence was handed down by Senior U.S. District Court Judge W. Louis Sands on April 23, 2015 in Albany, Georgia.

Mr. Wilcox entered a guilty plea to the charge on December 15, 2014 in Albany, Georgia.

This is not Mr. Wilcox’s first offense involving child victims.  At the time of the crime to which he pled guilty, Mr. Wilcox was on supervised release from a previous conviction in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia for possession of child pornography in March, 2003, for which he received a sentence of 33 months in prison.  He was also subsequently convicted of aggravated child abuse in Crisp County Superior Court in February 2005, for which he was on probation at the time of his latest offense. Mr. Wilcox is currently serving a 10 year parole revocation of his state sentence based on this new offense.

The current charges stem from a search done of the contents of Mr. Wilcox’s computer by the United States Probation Officer overseeing his supervised release for his 2003 conviction.

The lengthy sentence was a result of his two previous felony convictions.           

“With the conviction and lengthy prison sentence of Mr. Wilcox, I am confident that we have taken a significant step to protect child victims.  He is a repeat offender.  Apparently the only place where we can be assured that he is not re-victimizing the child victims of pornography is in prison, so that is where he’ll spend the next decade,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Moore.

J. Britt Johnson, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office, stated:  “The FBI is pleased with the role that it played in further protecting the children of our community by getting such an individual as Mr. Wilcox off of our streets.  The FBI will continue to aggressively identify and investigate such individuals who would exploit and prey on children through child pornography.”

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Albany.  Assistant United States Attorney Jim Crane prosecuted the case for the Government.

Questions concerning this case should be directed to Pamela Lightsey, Public Information Officer, United States Attorney’s Office, at (478) 621-2603.