A Cass County man could be facing four decades in prison after being arrested for possessing child pornography.
Forty-nine-year-old Christopher Merriman of Virginia made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Springfield on Tuesday following an investigation by a Department of Homeland Security agent.
An affidavit in federal court indicates an agent was able to download three files made available on Merriman’s computer between December 11th and 13th depicting children involved in various sex acts as young as three years old.
A subsequent search of Merriman’s computer in his Virginia home yielded child pornographic videos.
Merriman had been arrested in 2002 and convicted for predatory criminal sexual assault of a child. He was sentenced to six years in the Illinois Department of Corrections and is a registered sex offender.
A detention hearing has been scheduled for Monday.