Former H. E. Williams official expected to plead guilty to child pornography charge

A 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 11 change-of-plea hearing is scheduled in U. S. District Court in Springfield for a former H. E. Williams official who was caught with child pornography on his work computer and company cell phone.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the original criminal complaint, the director of information technology for Cartbage-based H.E. Williams, Shane Barton’s employer, was alerted to a suspected virus on Barton’s company-issued computer that was in Barton’s office and connected to the business network. 

On Jan. 5, 2022, he observed an unauthorized anti-virus program on the computer and discovered numerous files that contained adult and child pornography. He notified management of the violation of company policy.

While doing so, he noticed the files were being deleted. Fearing that Barton was possibly tampering with evidence, he locked Barton out of the network and his company-issued computer.

Barton was placed on leave, the affidavit says, pending the resolution of an internal investigation. He was instructed to turn over his company-issued iPhone. A forensic examination of the computer identified approximately 10,000 images and approximately 100 video files of suspected child pornography, the affidavit says, as well as additional video files of suspected child pornography on the iPhone.

Barton resigned from his position with the company a couple of weeks later.