Former teacher sentence in child pornography case

GREENVILLE, NC (WWAY) — A former middle school teacher and soccer coach has been sentenced for the receipt of child pornography.

According to a release from the U.S. States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, 56-year-old William Edwarson, Jr. of Jacksonville will spend 6 years in prison foloowed by 5 years of supervised release. Edwardson must also register as a sex offender. Senior Unite States District Judge Malcolm J. Howard presided over the case.

Edwardson was listed on an indictment filed on September 2, 2015 and pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography on January 11. At the time of the indictment, Edwardson was a teacher and soccer coach at Trexler Middle School in Richlands.

Officials say in January of last year, the NC State Bureau of Investigation identified an IP address downloading child pornography through a peer-to-peer network. During the investigation, they identified the address and user as Edwardson.

On February 6, 2015 officials used a warrant to search Edwardson’s home in Jacksonville, where a laptop and two thumb drives were taken by officials. Forsenics found 424 images and 51 videos containing child porn on the computer. Edwardson admitted to downloading the images.

The investigation was conducted by the NC State Bureau of Investigation and the case was accepted for federal prosecution as part of Project Safe Childhood.