Gwinnett Daily Post

A man previously convicted of child molestation in Gwinnett pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday on charges he downloaded and received child pornography.

Albert Vernon Norton, 48, of Chatsworth avoided trial by entering his plea in front of U.S. District Court Judge Robert Vining in Rome on Tuesday. Norton was one of several individuals identified as suspects in a 2009 Georgia Bureau of Investigation operation busting perpetrators who allegedly used file sharing programs to exchange child pornography.

When officials raided his home, they reportedly found “hundreds of videos of child pornography, in particular images of minor boys engaged in sexually explicit conduct,” U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said.

Court records show Norton was convicted of child molestation in Gwinnett County in 1992, sentenced to 8 years in prison. He was also convicted on similar charges in Cumberland County, North Carolina, Yates said.

Norton is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court on March 31.