Vancouver man gets 26 months for child pornography

A Vancouver man was sentenced Friday to 26 months in prison for downloading images of child pornography.

Michael Alan Williamson, 65, pleaded guilty in Clark County Superior Court to two counts of possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Defense attorney Dustin Richardson said Williamson knew it was wrong to have the images, but he didn’t delete them because he was a hoarder.

The Vancouver Police Department Digital Evidence Cybercrime Unit began investigating on June 20, 2019, following an online cyber tip forwarded by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

Google had submitted information about a photo of suspected child pornography to the organization before it was forwarded to police. Williamson’s name was included in the username for the Google account where the photo was stored, according to the affidavit.

Police executed a search warrant on the account, finding Williamson’s name, date of birth and address. The account included eight photos of child pornography, the affidavit states. The images depicted children between the ages of 7 and 15 years old.