Alexandria Man Gets Second Child Pornography Conviction

ALEXANDRIA, VA — A previously convicted Alexandria man now has a second conviction related child pornography charges.

A federal jury convicted James B. Clawson, Sr., 58, Thursday on charges of possessing child pornography. He was convicted of distribution of child pornography in 2009 after prosecutors say he was an administrator of an online forum focused on trafficking child sexual abuse material.

The latest conviction resulted from a recent child pornography discovery on his laptop, according to prosecutors. In July 2019, Clawson was on supervised release when a probation officer found Clawson had been hiding a laptop and thumb drives in a hidden compartment in his home. According to evidence presented at trial, Clawson used the laptop to search for and download images and videos of sexually explicit content involving minors. The images were stored on a thumb drive, and Clawson sorted the files based on the specific sexually explicit conduct they showed.

"The evidence at trial demonstrated that the defendant’s prior conviction for distributing child pornography unfortunately did not deter him from continuing to seek out such heartbreaking and illegal images," said Raj Parekh, the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. "Thanks to the diligent efforts of the trial team and our law enforcement partners, the defendant has been held accountable for his recidivist conduct by a jury of his peers."

Clawson faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and up to 20 years total. Sentencing will happen on Dec. 1.