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TOP JOBS

By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer

A 47-year-old Smith County man was sentenced to four years and three months in prison for possessing nearly 1,000 images of child pornography.

Timothy Andrew Granberry pleaded guilty to possessing material involving the sexual exploitation of minors on May 23, 2007.

The defendant’s attorneys talked of Granberry’s service to the country in the Marine Corps, where he was given several good conduct ratings and was honorably discharged, as well as his nearly 20 years of employment at a Tyler factory.

Granberry’s common-law wife testified about how good a father he was to their 6-year-old son and her teenaged daughter. She said he was a hard worker and a dedicated family man who had never before had problems with the law. She said she never knew he had been viewing child pornography on their bedroom computer until agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation came to their home.

Granberry sobbed and covered his face with his arms as she testified.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Cowan said there were nearly 1,000 images of child pornography, including three videos involving underage girls.

Dallas attorney Roy Merrill said a mental health expert reported Granberry was a very low risk for acting out sexually with children. He said he never violated the law until he became addicted to pornography, which led to child pornography and he struggled with the moral issues of it, saying the FBI saved his life. He asked the judge to sentence Granberry to probation.

The defendant apologized to the court, to society and all of those in the courtroom who supported him. He said he had a problem but couldn’t correct it.

“I was being selfish,” he said. “I didn’t even consider what I was doing to other people.”

Tyler defense attorney Tonda Curry, who also represented him, asked the judge to sentence Granberry to 16 months, to be served half in prison and half in home confinement. She talked of Granberry joining the Job Corps, then the Marine Corps when he was young and working all his life.

Cowan asked the judge to sentence Granberry within the 51-63 month sentencing guideline range. He said the offense was not a mistake and that the defendant subscribed and paid to view child pornography Web sites. He viewed the illegal material for hours a day for three years, he said.

Schneider agreed with the prosecutor and ordered the man to undergo sex offender treatment and to register as a sex offender when released from prison. He said he would not be allowed to have unsupervised contact with any child expect for his son.

Also in Schneider’s court on Wednesday, Jeremy Chad Guilliams, 34, of Marshall, was sentenced to two years and three months for his involvement in a methamphetamine distribution conspiracy case that spanned East Texas and West Louisiana.

He was charged in a 14-count indictment with 13 others for possessing and distributing meth from 2005 through 2007.

Guilliams pleaded guilty to using a communications facility, a telephone, to facilitate the commission of a felony — distributing meth — on March 20, 2006, in Harrison County.

The defendant told Schneider he intended to attend drug rehabilitation, get out of prison and be a good father to his daughter.

Longview defense attorney James Hacker said the crime stemmed from Guilliams’ addiction to drugs.

Schneider said the federal sentence would be served at the same time as a sentence he is already serving for possessing a controlled substance in Harrison County.

Ten co-defendants have pleaded guilty to their involvement in the federal conspiracy case while three people await trial. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Ann Cozby is prosecuting the case.