Conrad Elwood Porter, 71, was trying to quit child pornography, he told police one afternoon in May.

But earlier that day, a Century 21 real estate agent brought a prospective buyer into Porter's small brick Cape Cod home in the 2600 block of Fairway Drive in Raleigh Court and stumbled upon his stash.

They called police, and when officers confronted Porter, he acknowledged possessing "some pretty nasty stuff" and allowed police to search his house, said Roanoke Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Alice Ekirch. Porter said he'd been praying and planned to get rid of the pornography. If police had come the next day instead, there'd have been nothing to find.

But the police did not come the next day, and Monday Porter pleaded guilty to four counts of possession of child pornography, for which he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison when sentenced.

Publicity from those charges led a female relative of Porter to come forward and claim he molested her in 1974, Ekirch said. Porter was arrested in September and still faces a charge of carnal knowledge of a minor in that case, the facts of which Ekirch declined to discuss further.

Porter remains free on bond. He appeared in court Monday with his oxygen bottle in tow, according to Ekirch.

Ekirch said the real estate agent and prospective buyer saw printed material on top of a rubber bin in a back bedroom. The bin turned out to be full of not only pornography, but ordinary Sunday newspaper advertising circulars, which Ekirch said Porter was using to craft obscene paper dolls.

There were also drawings Porter made himself depicting "sexual bondage with racial overtones," Ekirch added, including some on a memo pad from Roanoke City Public Schools. Porter was once a security guard at Patrick Henry High School. He told police his father had been a Roanoke police officer.

Police also seized Porter's computer, Ekirch said. Porter had had the computer re-formatted in April, but police recovered 511 explicit child pornography images, she said.

Porter's pre-sentencing hearing is set for Jan. 4. His trial on the carnal knowledge charge is scheduled for December.