Robert Warren Triplett Jr. was sentenced in federal court Thursday to 10 years in prison for possession of child pornography, according to reports.
Triplett, 58, was arrested in October 2009 on charges of exploitation of children after Lowndes County Sheriff”s Officers discovered explicit images of minors on a computer found in his home at 181 Golding Road in Columbus.
Officers uncovered the evidence while investigating the Sept. 17, 2009, disappearance of Triplett”s stepdaughter, Kaila Morris, 21. Morris remains missing.
Triplett pleaded guilty last August to possession of child pornography. As part of the plea agreement, Triplett was not charged with additional federal offenses related to the possession of child pornography.
Triplett, who had prior arrests for sex crimes in Mississippi and Louisiana, was on non-adjudicated probation for 2003 charges of aggravated assault, but his probation was revoked after his October 2009 arrest, and he began serving a 10-year sentence at the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
The date for the state trial has not yet been set. If Triplett had been tried and convicted on state charges, his sentence from the federal court in Oxford would have likely been at least 10 years higher.
The state charges could carry a sentence of up to 40 years in prison.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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