CAPE GIRARDEAU — A Doniphan man was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison Tuesday afternoon for possessing more than 600 images of child pornography.
Dallas W. Wuesthoff was sentenced to 144 months in federal prison on one count of possessing child pornography by U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr., according to the Assistant U.S. Attorney John Koester.
Upon Wuesthoff’s release from prison, Koester said, he will be placed on lifetime supervised release. He must also continue to register as a sex offender.
Wuesthoff, according to earlier reports, was required by federal statutes to serve a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison on the charge since he had a prior conviction for a sex-related offense against a minor.
Wuesthoff was convicted in 1997 of second-degree statutory sodomy in Ripley County.
With his May plea, Wuesthoff admitted law enforcement officers executed a state search warrant at his residence on Nov. 9.
The warrant, according to the plea agreement signed by Wuesthoff, authorized investigators to seize all cameras, computers and electronic storage devices. Wuesthoff reportedly was present at the time the warrant was executed.
“Among other things, investigators seized an Acer laptop computer, a Hewlett-Packard (HP) tower and several thumb drives,” the plea agreement further says.
Investigators subsequently conducted an examination of the devices and found more than 600 images of child pornography.
“Many of the images depict prepubescent females engaging in sexually explicit conduct with adult males,” the plea agreement says.
With his plea, Wuesthoff admitted he knowingly possessed visual depictions of minors in sexually explicit conduct.
“Wuesthoff further admits that the material was obtained using the internet,” the plea agreement says.