A Marine based at Camp Pendleton, California, faces a general court-martial after being charged with possessing and distributing child pornography, a Corps official said on Tuesday.
Lance Cpl. Billie Morton, 25, is assigned to the 11th Marine Regiment, said Capt. Paul Gainey, a spokesman for the 1st Marine Division.
Morton’s trial dates are pending.
General courts-martial are reserved for the most serious offenses and can result in maximum sentences of more than a year in confinement, reduction in rank to E-1 and a dishonorable discharge.
A copy of Morton’s charge sheet was not immediately available on Tuesday. Morton was arrested in August after a Marine at Camp Pendleton’s Single Marine Program Recreation Center found images of child pornography on a computer that Morton allegedly had used, according to the San Diego Reader.
Investigators found that Morton allegedly had asked Facebook users for “incest pics” and “nudes,” the Reader reported on Dec. 1.
