TALLAHASSEE, FL - Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that Seminole County resident Monrovia McKenzie was sentenced to 10 years in prison for promoting the sexual performance of a child through child pornography. He was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution after he was arrested by the Attorney General’s CyberCrime Unit.

"Every time an image of child pornography is viewed or transmitted, the victim is re-victimized and the crime is renewed over and over again," said Attorney General Bill McCollum. "We will continue to investigate and prosecute individuals who exploit children through the internet and child pornography because these people must be kept where they belong – behind bars."

McKenzie placed pornographic videos on the internet, where they were discovered by an investigator with the CyberCrime Unit. The investigator was able to trace them back to McKenzie. A search warrant was then executed at McKenzie's residence, where officers seized computers, along with more than 500 digital images and videos of child pornography. McKenzie was arrested in March 2006 by officers with the CyberCrime Unit and investigators from the Seminole County Sheriff's Crimes Against Children Unit.

McKenzie pleaded no contest to one count of promoting the sexual performance of a child, one count of allowing access to child pornography using the internet and 19 counts of possessing child pornography. In addition to his 10-year prison sentence, McKenzie must serve 15 years of sex offender probation.

The CyberCrime Unit's mission is to protect children from computer-facilitated sexual exploitation. The unit works cooperatively with law enforcement agencies and prosecutors statewide to provide resources and expertise, while preventing the spread of these crimes through education and community awareness. The unit works closely with the Office of Statewide Prosecution to prosecute cases involving computer-facilitated sexual exploitation.