Belleville Man Sentenced To 15 Years For Exploiting Minors To Produce Child Sexual Abuse Material
EAST ST. LOUIS – A U.S. District judge sentenced a Belleville man to spend 15 years in federal prison after he pled guilty to four counts of production, distribution, and transportation of child sexual abuse material. U.S. Attorney Rachelle Aud Crowe had this statement about the case: "Zachary R. Dennert, 21, will serve 10 years of supervised release following his prison sentence. The defendant targeted young boys on social media, gained their trust by pretending to be a young girl and exploited his victims for sexual images. “His sentence reflects the severity of his manipulative behavior, and I applaud the investigative agencies for their work in bringing this offender to justice.” According to court documents, Dennert created social media profiles on several platforms purporting to be a teenage female in 2020. Using the profiles, he contacted numerous male minors and requested explicit images. Dennert received images from victims ranging in age from 11 to 15 years
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