The attorney for a former Forsyth County Sheriff's deputy and unsuccessful candidate for sheriff said his client plans to fight the federal child pornography charges on which he was indicted last week.

Milton Scott Pruitt, 40, was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on charges of knowingly receiving child pornography on his work computer and knowingly receiving and possessing child pornography on his home computer.

Atlanta attorney Bill McKenney said Pruitt, of 5510 Apache Trail in northeastern Forsyth County, turned himself in Friday morning at the Hall County Detention Center.

McKenney said another attorney from his firm represented Pruitt during his bond hearing before a federal judge in a Gainesville courtroom. It could not be determined if bond had been set.

Pruitt was fired from the sheriff's office May 17, 2007, after he reportedly used his county-issued computer to access illegal images of child pornography that were part of an investigation to which he was not assigned.

McKenney called the case against his client, "overreaching by the government."

"As we understand it, the accusation is that while on duty he reviewed a case file and in that case file was in fact an investigation of someone accused of child pornography, so there were some photographs there," McKenney said.

"He viewed the photographs on a computer and that's the basis of his termination. That's apparently the main basis of these charges."

Less than a week after Pruitt was fired, he was arrested and charged with 20 felony counts of violation of the Computer Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention Act.

He also was charged with one count each of theft by taking, theft by conversion, computer trespass and violation of oath of office.

The charges were the result of an internal investigation by the sheriff's office and a criminal investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

McKenney said case law exists showing that the government must prove Pruitt actually downloaded the material.

"Looking at it itself is not a crime," McKenney said. "The crime is when you actually take the steps to take that image and then download it and retain it."

As for the allegations that Pruitt was downloading illegal images at home, McKenney said he hasn't been able to review the evidence.

"That's what they're saying, but we've asked for the computer," he said. "We actually had a motion asking Forsyth County: Can we at least image the computer? Not take it but just take an expert to do an image of what's on there. And they refused."

McKenney said his firm has handled cases similar to Pruitt's in the past, but this is the first one to go to the federal level.

If convicted of the federal charges, Pruitt could face a maximum of 50 years in prison and a fine of up to $750,000.

It is possible that Pruitt also could be indicted by a Forsyth County grand jury on the local charges.

Attempts to reach District Attorney Penny Penn for comment were not successful last week.

Pruitt ran for Forsyth County sheriff this year, placing second in a three-man Republican primary contest to incumbent Ted Paxton.

Paxton was elected to a third, four-year term, receiving 10,868 votes, or 85 percent, to Pruitt's 956 votes, or 8 percent in the July 15 balloting.

Sheriff's Deputy Brian Millard, who also ran for the post, finished third with 907 votes, or 7 percent.