A 38-year-old St. Augustine man is to serve almost 10 years in prison on child porn charges followed by a decade of probation after he pleaded no contest to charges of possession of sexual performance by a child.
Judge Wendy W. Berger on Tuesday sentenced Timothy Gene Marshall to two consecutive five-year prison terms, with credit for 11 months served, on four felony counts after state CyberCrime investigators found child pornography on his computer.
Assistant Public Defender Craig Atack said his client was shocked to learn his sentence, as they had been hoping for the lowest end of the guidelines.
That would have had Marshall serving two or three more months for a total of 13 or 14, followed by probation.
"In this situation the family and I thought that -- after a year in the county jail -- Timothy needed the structure and counseling that comes with sex offender probation," Atack said. "If he violated that probation, then that would be his fault and he would be going to prison for a very long time."
Atack added that Marshall had no prior record.
Atack said Marshall had faced a maximum of five years on each count, with the state recommending a maximum of 10 years because of Marshall's no contest plea.
State CyberCrime investigators said they found images during a routine investigation and traced them back to Marshall's computer, according to the Attorney General's Office. Investigators said images on Marshall's computer included children as young as 5.
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