A former state employee has been charged in a series of pornographic images sent to several Alabama lawmakers and Gov. Kay Ivey.

John Henry Watson Jr., 54, of Dothan, is charged with four counts of dissemination of child pornography, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency announced Thursday.

Watson was a driver license examiner assigned to ALEA’s Driver License Division, ALEA Lt. Jeremy Burket said. He was placed on leave Wednesday, and resigned Thursday in lieu of termination.

Watson was booked into the Houston County Jail where he is being held without bond.

The images – which court documents say included minors engaged in sex acts with each other – were sent to three Alabama lawmakers who sponsored a bill to require pornographic websites to use age verification received letters today containing pornographic images.

Rep. Ben Robbins, R-Sylacauga, said the images came in a manila envelope found on their desks Wednesday.

The letters included a name and return address of a P.O. Box in Dothan.

Robbins said Reps. Susan DuBose of Hoover and David Faulkner of Mountain Brook, who co-sponsored the bill last year, also received the envelopes.

Robbins told AL.com the sender was apparently trying to show that such images can still be found on social media despite their bill, which passed and became law.

The bill, HB164, signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey a year ago, says: “Any commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes sexual material harmful to minors through an adult website shall use a reasonable age-verification method to provide reasonable assurance that individuals under 18 years of age cannot access the material harmful to minors.”

A bond hearing for Watson is set for later this month.

AL.com reporter Mike Cason contributed to this report.