An Augusta man is heading to prison for 10 years, for the possession of child pornography, the maximum sentence for the crime.

United States Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced that Joshua Harrison, 35, of Augusta, Maine, was sentenced for having possession of child pornography.

On Tuesday, in U.S. District Court, Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr. sentenced Harrison to 10 years in prison to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release for possessing child pornography.

Harrison pleaded guilty on December 15, 2016.

According to court records, in August 2015, law enforcement agents learned that child pornography had been located in the defendant’s email account.

A search warrant was executed at the defendant’s Augusta residence and agents seized his laptop computer.  Agents also seized a second computer belonging to the defendant from a local pawn shop.

A forensic examination of these devices revealed multiple images of child pornography. 

During the search of his residence, the defendant also admitted that he obtained child pornography by email and a messaging application and that he met people in online chat rooms to obtain child pornography.

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit, and the Augusta Police Department.

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