A Covington County man has been charged with seven counts of possession of child pornography after a months-long investigation.

The Covington County Sheriff’s Department charged Jonathon Lee Wallace, 44, of Opp, on Tuesday. Wallace was already a convicted sex offender.

According a press release from the sheriff’s department, the charges stem from a several months-long investigation that began when Google, Inc. reported suspicious activity to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The NCEMC then forwarded the tip to the Alabama Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, of which the Covington County Sheriff’s Department is a member. Covington County Sheriff’s Department investigators discovered that Wallace had downloaded multiple images containing child pornography from the internet and had attempted to upload them to his Google account.

Wallace is required to register as a sex offender. According to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Community Information Center, which keeps an online data base of registered sex offenders, he was convicted of first degree attempted sexual abuse of a 13-year-old female in Calhoun County, Ala., in 1998. He was 23 at the time. He is known to use the alias names John Lee Bradley and John Lee Cook, according to ALEA. He reported to ALEA that he was employed as a farm hand.

Sheriff Blake Turman said technology, cooperation with Google, and the tenacity of the Covington County Sheriff’s Department’s Criminal Investigation Division were the keys to his arrest.

“ Predators are among us and we will do what it takes to bring them to justice,” Turman said. “If you are aware of any illegal activity of this nature, report it.”