ALBANY — A former Sumter County Sheriff’s computer expert will spend the next 19 years in a federal prison following his conviction for possession of child pornography, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

Thomas Conrad Lowery, 48, of Americus, was convicted by a federal jury Jan. 31 after being indicted by a grand jury when investigators found 159 images of what they believed were child pornography.

As his 81-year-old mother Eleanor wept, Lowery listened as Judge Louis Sands sentenced him to serve a total of 235 months in a federal prison.

In addition to his prison time, Sands ordered Lowery to spend the remainder of his natural life on supervised release once his term is complete.

Investigators searched a computer believed to have been used by Lowery at the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office as well as his personal computer and recovered evidence of child pornography.

Lowery was also indicted for transporting minors to California for sexual purposes, under the guise of helping them make contacts in a child acting network. He was also convicted on that count.

Lowery has vehemently denied all of the charges against him since his arrest.

Before passing his sentence, Sands listened as Lowery’s attorney, Bill Murray of Americus, argued a series of objections to the proposed pre-sentencing guidelines compiled by the U.S. Department of Probation, all of which were ultimately overruled.

Murray also called a series of character witnesses to testify before Sands including Lowery’s half-brother, a longtime family friend and his lastly, his mother.

Lowery’s mother, Eleanor, gave Sands an impassioned plea to have mercy on her son, asking the judge spare her the agony of having to share her last years with him from behind a cell.

“I’m not here for sympathy...” a tearful Eleanor Lowery said from the witness stand. “Your honor, please be lenient. I need him. He’s not a person to waste his life away in prison. I’ll be dead before he gets out.”

Murray also asked the judge to consider the Lowery family in making his decision and Lowery’s considerable contributions to the Sumter County community.

“I’m arguing here that this defendant is worthy of mercy,” Murray told Sands. “I’m asking for mercy for Thomas C. Lowery and his mother, because it has the effect of sentencing her, too.”

Wearing a plain white button-up dress shirt and dress pants, Lowery had one simple comment to Sands before the sentence was handed down.

“I believe in the system. I just ask for grace from God and your mercy,” Lowery said.

In justifying his sentence, Sands said that he struggles weighing the gravity of the offense versus the effect on the convicted defendant’s family, and that this case was no exception.

But, according to Sands, while no child was directly assaulted or touched by Lowery’s hands, by possessing images of child pornography, the defendant was supporting and condoning the abuse portrayed in the images.

“The children in those photos are real children,” Sands said. “Those who partake of it (child pornography) contribute to the demand for it and thereby contribute to this heinous conduct.”

Lowery was ushered away by members of the U.S. Marshals Service. According to Sands, he has 10 days from Thursday to appeal his conviction and sentencing.