Doctor Gets 8 Years for Child Porn

A 49-year-old Kennesaw man who once practiced ear, nose and throat medicine in Marietta was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison for distributing child pornography.

Dr. Andrew Sutton worked for , which has locations in Canton and Marietta. He was also the executive medical director for the .

But in May 2010, authorities said Sutton found himself on the other side of the law.

He engaged in an online discussion with an undercover law enforcement officer who posed as a woman with two children. During that discussion, Sutton asked for naked photographs of those children, sent several images of child pornography to the officer and used his web camera to send a picture of himself to the officer.

After the undercover operation, additional images of child pornography were found on Sutton's home computers and external data storage devices.

A forensic analysis revealed that Sutton distributed more images of child pornography before May 2010. He turned himself in to Cobb County police on Nov. 15, 2010, but was released the same night on $10,000 bond, according to a report in The Marietta Daily Journal.

He was . Sixteen days later, Sutton was ordered detained.

He pleaded guilty to the charge Dec. 20.

Upon completion of his prison sentence, Sutton will be under 10 years of supervised release.

“The possession of sexually explicit images of children is a serious crime, but this defendant went beyond that when he distributed these images with the hope of receiving additional sexually explicit materials to add to his collection,” U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said in a statement. “We will continue to prosecute these cases and seek significant prison sentences in our effort to eliminate and end the distribution of these despicable images.”