Tristan Wood
Former Florida Elections Commission attorney Eric Lipman pleaded guilty to child pornography charges Monday and faces up to 20 years in prison.
Lipman, 59, pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute, receive, and possess material constituting child pornography, and distributing material constituting child pornography. Lipman was the top attorney for the FEC, which investigates and prosecutes election law and campaign finance violations.
Between Feb. 8 and Feb. 11, Lipman and others traded and discussed pornographic images and videos of children on Mega.NZ chat groups, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Mega.NZ is an internet cloud storage and file hosting service based in New Zealand.
The images and videos were found on Lipman’s electronic devices when he was arrested on 11 charges of possession of child pornography on April 7. The media involved prepubescent minors as well as kids under the age of 12. There were also internet searches on his laptop involving child sexual abuse, pedophiles and children between the ages of 3 and 5, according to arrest records.
He was caught after a Homeland Security and Leon County Sheriff’s Office investigation.
Lipman began working for the commission in 2001. He was previously a senior attorney with the Florida Department of Children and Families in Leon, Wakulla and Franklin counties, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. He was also an officer with the Capital Soccer Association, a nonprofit soccer league for minors.
His sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 18 at the U.S. Courthouse in Tallahassee. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, with a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison. After his prison term, he will serve five years to life on supervised release.
