Petersburg man pleads guilty to federal crimes against children
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) — A Menard County man has pleaded guilty to 34 federal counts involving crimes against children, and he faces decades in prison for each count.
Federal prosecutors said Adam Power, 30 of Petersburg, pleaded guilty to charges of producing, distributing and receiving child pornography between July of 2022 and February of 2023. Evidence indicated that during those seven months, Power posed as a female minor on the online chatting apps Snapchat and Kik and convinced male minors to produce pornographic images and videos of themselves. In addition, prosecutors said Power distributed and received visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
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Power was initially arrested on March 21, 2023, on a state charge of possession of child pornography. Three months later, on June 30, federal prosecutors charged him with producing, distributing and receiving child pornography and a grand jury indicted him on 10 federal counts the following July. A superseding indictment in January of this year brought his total counts to 34.
Producing child pornography carries a statutory penalty of 15 to 30 years in prison per count, and Power pleaded guilty to seven of those counts. Power also pleaded guilty to eight counts of distributing child pornography and 18 counts of receiving child pornography (five to 20 years per count) and one count of possessing child pornography (up to 20 years in prison).
A sentencing hearing for Power has been scheduled for Sept. 5 in Springfield.
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