A Tucumcari man has been arraigned on a five indictment count related to possession of child pornography in federal court.

Lawrence Lucero, 65, is accused of receiving and being in possession of material depicting minors engaged in sex.

Lucero entered a not guilty plea. A United States Magistrate Judge ordered Lucero to be detained until the trial.

According to the accusations, Lucero got the child pornography between March and May in Rio Arriba County. At the time, he was a social worker employed with a healthcare company that provided services for the Veterans Affairs Community Based Outpatient Clinics in Las Vegas and Espanola.

If convicted Lucero would face not less than five years and not more than twenty years for each receipt of child pornography. The maximum penalty for each possession conviction is ten years of imprisonment. Also, if convicted, he would face a lifetime as a registered sex offender.

Investigators with the Office of Inspector General, Department of Veterans Affairs, along with agents of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, worked together to gather evidence against Lucero.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Charlyn E. Rees, and was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.