BENTON, Ill. — A federal jury found a Swansea man guilty of sexually exploiting a minor again.
Registered sex offender Dan R. Waeckerle Jr., 44, was found guilty of "soliciting an obscene visual depiction of a minor, transferring obscene matter to a minor, sexual exploitation of a minor and offense by a registered sex offender," a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Waeckerle had sexually explicit conversations via text messages with a minor in July of 2021, court records said.
"Evidence presented during the trial revealed Waeckerle sent the minor a nude image, requested sexually explicit images from the minor, and discussed meeting the minor for sex," the Department of Justice statement said.
Waeckerle's criminal history automatically gives him a minimum sentence of 25 years in prison for sexual exploitation of a minor. In 2010, he was convicted of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor in Hamilton County, Illinois.
Sentencing is scheduled to take place at 9:30 a.m. on May 21 at the federal courthouse in Benton.
According to the Department of Justice, multiple state, federal and local agencies worked together to investigate Waeckerle's crimes, but members of the O’Fallon Police Department led the investigation.
“We are thankful for the training and resources provided by our federal partners which have allowed our detectives to be extremely successful in investigating cases such as these,” said O’Fallon Police Captain Mike Mojzis. “We appreciate the hard work and dedication of our detectives in striving to seek justice for the victim.”
Other agencies contributed to the investigation, including the U.S. Secret Service Central and Southern Illinois Financial and Cyber Crimes Task Force, the Swansea Police Department and the Illinois State Police.
