GA man’s lost phone leads to 20 years in prison

COBB COUNTY, Ga. (WAOK) — A forgotten cellphone at a Marietta coffee shop leads to 20 years in prison for a Cobb County, Georgia man.

Officials said the man, eighty-five-year-old Carl Alfred Iverson, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to eight counts of sexual exploitation of children.

Iverson was already on probation for computer pornography when he visited a Starbucks in September.

He forgot his phone at the coffee shop, and when workers opened the phone to identify its owner they discovered pornographic photos and videos of children.

Kim Isaza, a spokeswoman for the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office, said that workers immediately called police after discovering the phone.

Employees were able to identify Iverson by first name initially, as he was a regular customer, but they also had a Starbucks customer card with his full name, police said.

Iverson pleaded guilty in April 2015 to child exploitation after having obscene internet contact with a detective whom Iverson believed to be a 14-year-old child. In that case, Iverson was sentenced to 10 years with 30 days to serve in custody and the rest on probation.

That conviction put him on the Georgia Sex Offender Registry and during his probation, Iverson’s internet use was to be restricted to when he paid bills, and then only under supervision.

“This case serves as a shocking reminder of how there is truly no stereotype of who is capable of committing this type of crime,” said Assistant District Attorney Susan Treadaway, who prosecuted the case. “It also serves as a reminder to anyone engaged in online communications with a person they have never met and know very little about to be cautious in presuming the intentions of who is on the other end.

Cobb Superior Court Judge Adele Grubbs accepted Iverson’s plea and sentenced him to 20 years, with seven years to be served in prison and the balance on probation, along with the same sex-offender conditions as imposed under the original case.

*Photo via Cobb Co. Sherriff’s Office