A South Point man will spend the next eight years in prison on a child pornography and sexual battery charge.

Michael B. Thompson, 28, of 190 Private Drive 779 County Road 56, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count each of second-degree pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor and third-degree sexual battery.

Two additional counts of the same charges were dropped in exchange for Thompson’s guilty plea.

According to Lawrence County Prosecuting Attorney Brigham Anderson, Thompson was arrested following a complaint by the man’s former girlfriend. Thompson was living in Huntington, W.Va., at the time.

“His girlfriend at the time alerted Huntington authorities of a picture she saw on his cell phone,” Anderson said. “After that a search warrant was executed on his computer and cell phone and it showed that there were sexual acts with minors that were filmed and they occurred here in Lawrence County.”

Anderson said the minor involved in the incident, was a relative of Thompson between the age of 13 and 15. The incident occurred between January and August 2012. Thompson was indicted in October 2012.

In addition to the maximum eight-year prison sentence, Common Pleas Judge Charles Cooper ordered Thompson to register as a Tier I sex offender for 15 years.

“If you think a child is being exploited in any way, notify authorities and let us look into it,” Anderson said.

In other cases:

• Gregory Spears Jr., 24, of 1354 County Road 181, Ironton, was arraigned on a bill of information and pleaded guilty to a third-degree count of attempted burglary. Cooper sentenced the man to three years in prison and ordered him to pay $500 in restitution.

• Kimbralee Boyd, 22, of 223 Township Road 1186 Apt. 30, South Point, was sentenced to treatment in lieu of conviction for a count of second-degree illegal manufacture of drugs. This means Boyd was able to plead guilty to the charge but punishment was delayed to allow her to seek drug treatment.

In those cases where defendants are sentenced to treatment in lieu of conviction, as long as the person follows the rules and is successfully treated for the addiction, the punishment is delayed; if the person does not do as ordered, the punishment is then administered.

• Christopher Breeding, 35, of 263 Private Drive 3418 County Road 2, Chesapeake, pleaded guilty to counts of third-degree having weapons under a disability and fifth-degree improperly handing a firearm.

Judge D. Scott Bowling set sentencing for May 22.

• Garri Carey, 45, of 114 N. Fourth St., Ironton, was arraigned on a bill of information and pleaded guilty to a fifth-degree count of possession of cocaine. Bowling sentenced the man to 11 months in prison with a judicial release to the STAR Community Justice Center when a bed becomes available.

• John Robinson, 33, of 2891 County Road 22, Ironton, was arraigned on a bill of information and pleaded guilty to charges of fifth-degree possession of drugs and misdemeanor possession of drug abuse instruments.

Bowling sentenced the man to 11 months in prison with a judicial release to the STAR Community Justice Center when a bed becomes available and a $150 fine.

• John Spencer, 19, of Ironton, was arraigned on five counts of trafficking in drugs — two fouth-degree, two fifth-degree and one third-degree count.

Spencer pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Bowling set bond at $25,000 own-recognizance plus GPS monitoring and set a pretrial for May 22.

• Christopher Brown, 36, of Cincinnati, was arraigned on two fourth-degree counts of trafficking in drugs, to which he pleaded not guilty.

Bowling set bond at $25,000 OR and set a pretrial for May 22.