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School worker jailed in child porn case: Technician for district faces 50 counts
Mar 13, 2010 (The Sun Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
JACKSON COUNTY -- A computer technician for the Jackson County School District is jailed on a $500,000 bond following his arrest on 50 counts of possession of child pornography.
The arrest Thursday of Mark Fred Bowie, 41, of Moss Point, was the result of a joint investigation between the Jackson County Sheriff's Department and the state Attorney General's Office as part of their ongoing probe dubbed Operation Mockingbird
"We have a zero tolerance for these people, and we have some detectives who are hard-nosed enough that they are not going to let these people get away with this," Sheriff Mike Byrd said Friday.
"We are going to send them to jail."
Sheriff's investigator Hope Thornton, who recently completed training with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, headed up the investigation with the assistance of other investigators in the Sheriff's Department's Criminal Investigations Division.
Though specifics about the investigation were not immediately released, Operation Mockingbird is an initiative that involves the use of a combination of new technologies to identify suspected child predators.
Sheriff's investigators did seize a computer from Bowie's home.
The sheriff said the pornography that was seized was on a home computer and not on any property of the Jackson County School District.
Bowie has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
He is jailed in Jackson County's maximum-security jail.
Barry Amacker, superintendent of the Jackson County School District, said Bowie joined the school district in September. As a computer technician, Amacker said Bowie wasn't directly involved with any students though he did come into contact with them when he was at the schools doing his job.
On Friday, Amacker said, Bowie was placed on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of an internal investigation.
Possession of child pornography is punishable by up to 20 years in prison on each count.
Bowie lives on McNeese Lane in Moss Point.
The investigation is continuing, with other charges possible.
To see more of The Sun Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.sunherald.com. Copyright (c) 2010, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.
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