Plea entered in sex crime that victimized a child

A 38-year old man will serve prison time for the crime of sexual exploitation of a minor second degree.  The sentence was meted out to Brandon Ray McKern after he entered an Alford plea this afternoon in the Oconee General Sessions Court.  Judge Maddox pronounced a sentence of five years in prison, suspended to 40 months.  McKern, however, will receive credit for 508 days in jail awaiting trial.  An Alford plea is a plea in which a defendant essentially enters a guilty plea, while maintaining a claim of innocence.  In effect, he admits that whatever evidence the prosecutor has is likely to convince a court he is guilty.  A prosecutor from the office of the state Attorney’s General told the judge that McKern posed online as a teenager and eventually convinced a girl of minor age to send him photographs of her naked.  He displayed a large spiral bound notebook to demonstrate the volume of communication between the two over a period that began in 2018.  The crime came to the attention of the Oconee Sheriff’s Office on a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.  Attached to the 40-month sentence are conditions which include the requirement of sex offender registry, a permanent restraining order that requires McKern to stay away from the victim.