Former Lake View Mayor Paul Calhoun Charged for Having Child Porn

A former mayor of Lake View, Alabama has been arrested after police allegedly found him to possess child pornography.

Lake View is a town of about 4,000 people that rides the Tuscaloosa and Jefferson County lines, and 54-year-old Paul Anthony Calhoun spent two recent stints in its government.

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He was elected to serve on the Lake View town council in an uncontested election in 2008 and failed to win a 2012 re-election effort. Four years later, though, the simultaneous resignations of Mayor Bruce Wade and two former council members left the town government without a quorum of voting members and unable to act at all - even to issue paychecks to town police.

Former Governor Robert Bentley filled the power vacuum by appointing Paul Calhoun to be mayor in June 2016, and he won an election for the office later the same summer.

His term as mayor would not pass without controversy, though - the town council accused Calhoun of unauthorized spending on out-of-state trips and attempted to pass a resolution that would have made him pay back that money.

Unlike in Tuscaloosa or Northport, the mayor of Lake View votes on matters before the council, and Calhoun voted against that resolution and caused it to fail instead of recusing himself because of a conflict of interest.

That led Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall to accuse Calhoun of violating a law prohibiting any elected official from voting on any matter in which they have a financial interest.

Calhoun ultimately pleaded guilty, resigned from the mayor's office and is barred from running again.

Sergeant Josh Hastings, a spokesperson for the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office, said Calhoun was located and arrested Wednesday morning after investigators obtained a warrant earlier this week.

Hastings said Calhoun is charged with a single count of possessing child pornography at this time, but in Alabama, every picture or video depicting child sexual abuse is charged as a separate felony crime, and police have yet to do an exhaustive search of Calhoun's devices.

Additional charges are expected.

He will be booked in the Tuscaloosa County Jail on Wednesday on the one count of possessing child pornography and will be held there without bond.

For updates on this case if any are made available, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.