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Thontosassa Man Arrested On Child Porn Charges

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By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 1, 2009

A Hillsborough County man has been arrested on charges of child pornography possession and promoting the sexual performance of a child.

Investigators arrested Marcus James Morgan of Thontosassa today at his home, according to the state Attorney General's Office.

The arrest was made with the help of the Attorney General's CyberCrime Unit, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

The images were found during a routine undercover investigation and were tracked back to Morgan's computer, according to a release from the Attorney General's Office.

Attorney General's spokeswoman Sandi Copes would not release specific details of the investigation.

"But we are routinely searching for images of child pornography and tracking them to defendants' computers," she said.

Law enforcement seized Morgan's laptop today.

A cursory review revealed 15 images of child pornography on his computers, but the computer was taken for further review, Copes said. Six of those images were available for others to download.

Morgan, 30, told investigators he had the images, which were of children between the ages of 5 and 13, the release states.

Morgan is a U.S. Navy veteran.

He was charged with six counts of promoting child pornography and 15 counts of possession of child pornography.

The Attorney General's CyberCrime Unit became operational in October 2005, and it has been responsible for more than 100 arrests, Copes said.

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691.

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