Louie Flowers, convicted of possessing child porn, sentenced to three years in prison

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- A Milwaukee County judge sentenced Louie Flowers on Wednesday, July 9th to three years in prison and another three years of extended supervision. Flowers was found guilty in February of two counts of possession of child pornography.

"The fact is I had those photos on my phone and computer," Flowers said Wednesday in the courtroom, "and I take full responsibility."

Flowers was a teacher at Silver Spring Neighborhood Center in Milwaukee. He was arrested in June 2012 after a child at the school found Flowers’ iPhone. The criminal complaint indicates there were pictures of naked girls on the phone — which was apparently used to play music in the classroom.

When the phone was discovered by the child, it was immediately confiscated and police were called to the school. Flowers was not in the building at the time. But the complaint indicates when he returned to the building he was arrested.

Police confiscated Flowers’ home computer and another iPhone. The computer also contained “thousands of adult nudist pictures as well as pictures of naked children.”

The complaint indicated that Flowers told investigators “he is the only person who uses his computers.” He stated, “he never sent any images to anyone else and only viewed them.”

During the sentencing hearing, Judge Stephanie Rothstein said she took that into consideration, as well as the fact that Flowers had no prior convictions and that he did not take the photos himself. The judge said she also looked at the past two years.

"Since the case has been charged you've conducted yourself in a law abiding fashion," said Judge Rothstein, "The court is of the opinion that you`ve acknowledged responsibility and you have shown yourself amenable to treatment and counseling."

Before the sentence came down in court, Flowers addressed the court. He said, "In the end I need to take responsibly for my decisions, good or bad. I would like to apologize to my family, especially to my wife, apologize to my friends, and to the families I worked with."