A 48-year-old Elkton man was sentenced yesterday to 14 years in federal prison after pleading guilty in November to possessing images of child pornography on his home computer, the U.S. attorney's office said in a statement.
Federal prosecutors also said Ernie Preston Hancock admitted during questioning that he had abused a 13-year-old child who was a friend of his son's and had often visited his home. Prosecutors said Hancock traveled with the boy to Delaware and engaged in sexual acts several times.
Chief U.S. District Judge Benson E. Legg, who imposed the sentence, also ordered that after Hancock is released from prison, he remain on supervised release for the rest of his life and not have access to a computer or the Internet without approval from the court.
Prosecutors said federal authorities searched Hancock's home on March 28, 2005, and seized a computer hard drive containing 131 images of children engaged in sex acts. One of the images was of a child under the age of 12, prosecutors said.