By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A 45-year-old Birmingham man is being held in the Shelby County Jail without bond after he was arrested on two child pornography charges on June 11.

Special agents with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s Internet Crimes against Children Unit, with help from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and the United State Postal Service, arrested Shelby County resident Eric Phillip Simpson and charged him with four felony counts of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

Distribution of child pornography is a Class B felony, and is punishable by up to 20 years in prison upon conviction. Possession of child pornography is a Class C felony, and is punishable by up to 10 years in prison upon conviction.

As of June 11, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency had not released further details about the ongoing investigation.