AUBURN - An Auburn man avoided federal child pornography charges after he was allowed to plead guilty in Cayuga County Court Tuesday to a local charge of possessing child pornography.

James Bonsant, 60, of 225 N. Seward Ave., was supposed to plead guilty on March 10 but had his case adjourned after he diminished his role in the incident by putting the blame on a friend.

Bonsant previously said Larry LeVancher downloaded images of children engaged in sexual acts and that he only tried to delete the them from his computer.

Because Bonsant e-mailed one of the images to a person in London and downloaded images with his laptop computer while driving a truck across state lines with LeVancher, Cayuga County District Attorney Jon Budelmann previously said that Bonsant's involvement went deeper than just deleting pictures.

“There was child pornography on my computer,” Bonsant said. “I was aware of it; it was wrong. I take full responsibility for it.”

LeVancher, who worked with Bonsant as a truck driver, was convicted on Sept. 29 of federal child pornography charges for his role in the incident.

In exchange for his guilty plea, the federal charges were dropped and Bonsant could receive shock probation when he is sentenced on May 12. Bonsant will also have to register as a sex offender.

Also in court:

• A Syracuse man recently released from a drug treatment facility pleaded not guilty to six felony charges for selling drugs in May 2008.

Amir Williams, 36, is charged with three counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance and three counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance.

Williams was previously convicted in Onondaga County of first-degree robbery in 2002, fourth-degree grand larceny in 1998 and possession of a controlled substance in the sixth-degree in 1996.

Bail was set at $15,000 cash or $30,000 bond.

• An 18-year-old Auburn resident faces up to four years in prison after he pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree felony burglary.

Peter Graves Jr., of 16 Parker St., admitted that he and a co-defendant broke into four homes on Oak Street, Grove Avenue Extension, Tubman Lane and Train Drive in order to steal items from them.

Grave's co-defendant, Robert Johnson Jr., 18, of 7 Arlington Ave., Auburn, also faces up to four years in prison after he pleaded guilty in county court last week to four counts of burglary for his involvement.

Graves is scheduled to be sentenced on May 5.

Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net