Lexington man pleads guilty to aggravated child pornography
Jan. 21—A Lexington man avoided trial Friday by pleading guilty to possessing hundreds of images of child pornography.
Christopher Lee Barger, 38, entered a blind plea, which means he did not have an agreement with the district attorney's office.
Cleveland County District Judge Jeff Virgin will determine Barger's sentence in March.
The judge could give a lesser sentence than prosecutors offered or a jury would recommend.
A search warrant executed at a Lexington residence in July allegedly yielded more than 800 exploitative images of children.
Barger was arrested in September and charged with aggravated possession of child pornography.
Cleveland County sheriff's investigators reported finding three computers and two cellphones containing the images, according to court documents.
In June, the sheriff's office received multiple tips about Barger's devices. In July, it seized them from his residence in the 10300 block of U.S. Highway 77, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Sheriff's detective Olivia Burrus found approximately 2.3 million files pertaining to the images between the five devices, Lt. John Szymanski said in a video release of the incident.
In the video, Szymanski asked parents to monitor electronic devices children use.
"Make sure they're not sending pictures to anybody," he said. "Try to keep that from happening so we don't have to come across this on a daily basis."
