Sentencing date set for Carthage man caught with child porn on his work computer

An 11:30 a.m. May 21 sentencing has been scheduled in U. S. District Court in Springfield for a former official of the H. E. Williams company in Carthage who was caught with child pornography on his work computer.

The sentencing for Shane Barton, 56, Carthage, was originally scheduled for December, but was postponed.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the original criminal complaint, the director of information technology for H.E. Williams 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 January 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.