ALBANY – Highland resident Shawn Wetzel, 39, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Tuesday after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
Wetzel previously pled guilty before Senior United States District Judge Gary Sharpe. Wetzel admitted that he had previously pled guilty in Georgia to receipt of child pornography and was sentenced to 67 months in prison, to be followed by five years of post-release supervision.
In September 2021, approximately 16 months after his release from prison, and while he was under supervised release, probation officers conducted an inspection of Wetzel’s Highland residence. In the course of that inspection, Wetzel was found to be in possession of approximately 10 child pornography image files and one child pornography video, depicting children as young as seven years old.
After Wetzel is released from prison after this new sentence, he will be required to serve a 30-year term of post-release supervision.
This case was investigated by the FBI and its Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes members of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, investigated the latest case.
