Separate trials for two Lowndes County men, one facing charges for child pornography and the other for sexual battery, have been continued until October in Lowndes County Circuit Court.
Robert Warren Triplett Jr. faces state and federal charges of exploitation of a child while Benjamin Lee Shelton, a former Sunday school teacher and part-time youth leader, is charged with three counts of sexual battery.
Both men were scheduled to appear before Circuit Court Judge Lee Howard on Tuesday, but were delayed by other trials, according to the district attorney”s office.
Triplett”s trial on the federal charges still is scheduled to begin Aug. 30 in U.S. District Court in Oxford.
A conviction on state charges could carry up to a 40-year prison sentence and a federal conviction could tack on an additional 10 years.
Triplett, 57, was arrested after investigators found explicit photos of minor children on a computer obtained from his home at 181 Golding Road, just outside Columbus city limits, 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Triplett”s probation was revoked in April and he now is serving a 10-year sentence at the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
While awaiting trial, he is being held in the Lafayette County Jail, according to the MDOC website.
The search for Morris is ongoing.
Anyone with information on Morris” whereabouts should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-530-7151, 911 or the LCSO at 662-328-6788.
Shelton, of 924 Third Ave. N. in Columbus, was arrested by Lowndes County sheriff”s deputies Jan. 22, 2009.
The former youth leader of Eastview Baptist Church in New Hope stands accused of sexually abusing a 17-year-old boy, in a summer-camp type setting, according to the Lowndes County Sheriff”s Office.
Staff Writer Ryan Poe contributed to this story.
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