Columbia Man Hit With Pornography Charges

A Columbia man was arrested earlier today and charged with possession of Child Sexual Abuse Materials.

63-year-old Charles E. Hooton was arrested after someone reported seeing child pornography on his phone in May.

Hooton has previously been convicted of statutory sodomy in the year 2000, and is a registered sex offender.

Court documents state that when law enforcement found Hooton, he provided his phone passcode, and on his phone 130 of the 135 images were generated by Artificial Intelligence.

Hooton was formally charged yesterday with one count of Possession of Child Pornography.

He is being held in the Boone County Jail without bond.