Thomson convicted of child pornography

ANDERSON – It took a jury of nine women and three men just an hour of deliberation to convict Wade Harrell Thomson on 10 counts of Possession of Child Pornography, a third-degree felony, Friday, Feb. 7.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Courtney Cain, before 12th District Court Judge Donald Creamer.

Thomson faces a penalty range of 2 to 10 years in prison or probation, but DA Andria Bender said a motion to stack sentences has already been filed.

On Monday, Jan. 26, 2015, Grimes County Deputy Marc Payne conducted a traffic stop on Thomson near Roans Prairie. During the stop, Payne conducted a probable cause search of the vehicle after finding narcotics paraphernalia and located a duffle bag with what he believed could be an abduction kit. According to reports there was a female in the vehicle with Thomson at the time of the stop.

Payne located a cellphone inside a bag that Thomson admitted was his. Thomson said the phone was not in service and he only used it for photo storage. Thomson provided Payne with a pattern code to unlock the phone and told Payne to attempt to make a call.

Payne attempted to make a call and while attempting to end the call and return to the home screen, Payne inadvertently opened the photo gallery on the phone and saw child pornography displayed, then immediately contacted supervision.

An investigation led law enforcement to obtain a search warrant for the phone. Approximately 4,000 images and videos and child pornography were found within the phone.

“Today the jurors hearing this case convicted a pedophile,” stated Bender. “Thomson’s vile conduct was uncovered because law enforcement did their job. Our office will seek a prison sentence to remove this defendant from the community. I am grateful to each of the law enforcement agencies who helped make this prosecution possible. I am proud of Cain and our team who did an exceptional job presenting this case.”

As of Feb. 11, a date had not been set for the sentencing phase in this case.