COLUMBUS, Ga. — A Georgia businessman has admitted to possessing child sexual abuse material and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Georgia says Edward Sprouse Boyd, Sr., 49, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography on October 24.

Boyd faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, followed by a maximum lifetime of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

He will also have to register as a sex offender upon release from federal prison.

He is not eligible for parole.

Sentencing is scheduled for January 23, 2024.

“Our office will hold accountable those who possess, distribute or create child sexual assault material, content which profoundly harms kids,” said U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary. “I want to commend the GBI for their dedicated and ceaseless efforts to protect children and bring predators to justice.”

According to court documents, the social media platform MeWe submitted several cyber tips to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) about uploads of suspected child pornography.

The reports were forwarded to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which determined that the MeWe account belonged to Boyd.

A search of his MeWe account revealed images of fully nude minor girls, as well as child-centric sexually explicit chats with other users.

A search warrant was executed on his home on August 20, 2020.

Eighteen electronic devices were seized, including a cell phone belonging to Boyd.

A forensic examination of his cell phone revealed 5,047 images and 1,157 videos that were categorized as child abuse material, plus 10,643 images and 1,013 videos categorized as child exploitative/age difficult.

The images and videos were submitted by the GBI to the NCMEC to both confirm any previously identified minor victims and to enter any unidentified minor victims into their database for possible future identification.

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