Gwinnett Daily Post

LAWRENCEVILLE - Gwinnett County prosecutors are pressing on with child molestation charges against disgraced public official William "Carter" Gorman, even as he serves a 10-year sentence in federal prison for possessing a large cache of child pornography.

A federal judge in April sentenced Gorman - formerly a respected, local pharmacy owner and Lawrenceville city leader - to 10 years without parole, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, after he pleaded guilty to receiving eight videos depicting child porn in the mail. Authorities also found a collection of the illicit material on computers at Gorman's home and family pharmacy.

Several months into his sentence, Gorman was indicted by a Gwinnett grand jury on two counts of child molestation. Those charges allege that Gorman exposed himself to a 13-year-old girl, and later coerced her into exposing herself, between January 2006 and July 2007. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

Gwinnett District Attorney Danny Porter said recently the August indictment will remain as the basis for the state's case against Gorman. It's possible Gorman could be transferred from federal custody to stand trial in Gwinnett, Porter said.

"We have been engaged in discussion with his local attorney about a disposition," said Porter. "I anticipate we're going to put it on a trial calendar here in the near future to at least figure out what's going on with.

"I don't think we're far enough along to say where that's going to end."

Gorman's attorney, Mark Sallee, did not return requests for comment.

During Gorman's sentencing hearing last April, wherein a woman testified he tried to molest her during a sleepover at his home in 1987, Gorman sternly denied all accusations of child molestation. He admitted to a judge, however, that he'd long grappled with an affinity for child pornography, and had slipped up when he ordered videos with titles such as "Little Ones in Love" and "Pre-Teen Trio."

Gorman had owned Monfort Drugs in Lawrenceville since 1980. In the wake of the accusations, he resigned as treasurer of the Lawrenceville Downtown Development Authority.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert McBurney has said Gorman is being housed at a medium-security prison somewhere in the Southeast. Toward the end of his sentence, he could qualify for a transfer to a sex offender treatment compound in Massachusetts.

It's likely Gorman will spend close to a decade behind bars, though he could earn 54 days for good behavior - so-called "good-time credits" - for each year he serves, following his first year, said Felicia Ponce, a spokesperson with the federal bureau of prisons.

"There is no parole in the federal system," Ponce said.