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Federal authorities say the final three suspects in a child pornography ring with ties to Lincoln County were sentenced this week to lengthy prison terms.
The men -- two from Wisconsin and another from Missouri -- were tried in U.S. District Court in North Carolina. In all, six men were convicted in the case.
The first to be sentenced was James Paul Byrd, 40, of Lincolnton. In August, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Voorhees handed Byrd a sentence of 7 years 3 months in federal prison on charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess child pornography, and distribution of child pornography.
Byrd had been charged in November 2010 and entered a guilty plea the following July.
The case was tried in North Carolina because FBI agents say they found hundreds of images of child pornography on computers and storage media during a search of Byrd’s residence in August 2010. Court records show that the images included violent depictions of children being raped and abused.
The three men sentenced this week were Daniel Slott, 44, of Merrill, Wis.; Brian Slott, 42, also of Merrill; and Henry Wright, 50, of Jefferson County, Mo.
Daniel Slott received the longest sentence in the case -- 19 years. Brian Slott was sentenced to a 15-year term, and Wright was sentenced to 5 years 10 months. Federal agents say they also found child pornography in a search of those three men’s houses. Daniel Slott already was a registered sex offender, federal prosecutors say.
The other two men charged in the case -- Michael Engelking, 37, of Alexandria, Va.; and David Large, 50, of Salem, Ore. -- were sentenced in October. Engelking received a term of 17 1/2 years, and Large was sentenced to 5 years 10 months.
Federal prison terms are served without a chance of parole.
Prosecutors say the men were members of several Facebook groups in which child pornography was shared. Among the groups were “girls girls girls” and “little girls love to play to.” Authorities allege the men had more than 10,000 images of child porn and child erotica.
