A man convicted of possessing 11 video clips depicting children in sexual acts has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, designated a Sexual Predator, and will not be allowed access to the internet or internet capable devices when released.
Marcus Allen Creel, 35, of Southport, entered a plea of No Contest to 11 counts of Possession of Child Pornography, Failure to Register as a Sex Offender and Violation of Probation. He was adjudicated guilty by Circuit Court Judge Brantley Clark.
The defendant was sentenced to 15 years in prison. That will be followed by 10 years of Sex Offender Probation during which he will have to wear an electronic monitor and will not be allowed internet access or “internet capable” devices, like smart phones. He will not be allowed to have contact with minors.
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The defendant was arrested by the Bay County Sheriff’s Office in March, 2021, after Inv. Jeremy Mathis received five reports from the National Center For Missing & Exploited Children that Google had identified child pornography images being uploaded to its servers.
Prosecutor Jennifer Lieb was prepared to present evidence gathered by Mathis and the Sheriff’s Office that the images were uploaded through email accounts associated with the defendant. Evidence would have shown the IP address through which the images were uploaded returned to the defendant’s home.
Further, evidence would have shown the defendant admitted receiving the child pornography.
State Attorney Larry Basford thanked Sheriff’s Office investigators for their work in identifying the defendant based on the Google report and helping put together a strong case.
For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.