XFORD – Gregory McCauley of Saltillo pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of activities related to child pornography.

He faces up to 50 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. He won’t be sentenced for several months while a U.S. Probation Service report is compiled.

McCauley, about 38, was indicted in July 2009 on eight counts, ranging from six counts of enticing a child to commit sexually explicit acts for visual depictions and interstate transport of illegal images to using a computer and shipping compact disks of the images. If he’d been found guilty on all these charges, the punishment could have been as much as a $2 million fine and 210 years in prison.

Before U.S. District Chief Judge Mike Mills, McCauley admitted he took images of sexually explicit conduct of a minor and shipped them out of state.

McCauley was scheduled to go to trial on Monday.

Some charges dismissed

In exchange for his guilty plea, the U.S. Attorney’s Office agreed to dismiss the other charges when he is sentenced. But the agreement does not prevent any other state or federal authorities from filing other charges against him.

Part of his plea agreement was sealed, which has become a practice in the Northern District. Among the possible contents of that agreement could be McCauley’s willingness to cooperate with prosecutors and to testify against others he may know about illegal activities.

Contact Patsy R. Brumfield at (662) 678-1596 or patsy.brumfield@djournal.com.