COLUMBUS — In federal court Friday, a Lowndes County man pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.
Robert Warren Triplett Jr., 57, of 181 Golding Road was arrested in October on charges of activities regarding materials constituting or containing child pornography.
Triplett, whose trial on state charges of child pornography this week was continued in Lowndes County Circuit Court, pleaded guilty on the federal charges this morning before Chief Justice Michael Mills.
According to the plea agreement, Triplett pleaded guilty to count one of the federal indictment, which charged “possession of a computer containing images of child pornography that had been shipped and transported in interstate commerce by means of computers and that were produced using materials that had been mailed, shipped and transported in interstate and foreign commerce.”
In exchange for the guilty plea, Triplett will not be charged with “any other federal offenses arising from or related to the possession of child pornography charge,” according to the plea agreement.
Sentencing is pending.
Triplett was arrested after investigators found explicit photos of minor children on a computer obtained from his home, during an investigation into the disappearance of his stepdaughter, Kaila Morris.
Morris, then 21, has been missing since Sept. 17, when she was last seen by Triplett, who said she left the home he shared with her mother, Bonnie Morris Triplett, in a dark-colored van or sport utility vehicle, with an unknown person or persons.
Morris” mother was vacationing in Florida at the time and urged Triplett to report her missing.
Triplett has not been identified as a suspect in Morris” disappearance, but was investigated by the Lowndes County Sheriff”s Office.
He has past arrests for sex crimes in Mississippi and Louisiana and was on non-adjudicated probation from 2003 charges of attempted sexual battery in Jackson County; the charges were reduced to aggravated assault.
Triplett”s probation was revoked and he now is serving a 10-year sentence at the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
After a July hearing in Oxford, Mills denied a motion, filed by Triplett”s attorney, Robert Laher, to suppress computer evidence in Triplett”s federal trial on the child pornography charges.
On the state charges for which Triplett”s trial was continued, a conviction could mean a sentence of up to 40 years in prison; a federal conviction likely would have meant an additional 10 years.
The search for Morris is ongoing.
Anyone with information regarding Morris” whereabouts should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-530-7151, 911 or the LCSO at 662-328-6788.
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