Convicted rapist gets 15 years in prison for possession of child porn

Convicted rapist gets 15 years in prison for possession of child porn

(U.S. Attorney's Office)


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SALT LAKE CITY — A West Valley man once convicted of rape was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography.

Shawn William Turley, 50, admitted in a January plea deal that Utah Adult Probation and Parole agents located a phone hidden at his residence containing more than 600 images of child pornography. The July field visit to his home was conducted after a 12-year-old girl disclosed that he had been sexually abusing her for a year.

Turley admitted he obtained the pictures using a peer-to-peer network. As part of the plea agreement, he also admitted to law enforcement officers that he had sexually abused the 12-year-old child for about one year, court documents state.

Turley faced a sentence beyond the federal sentencing guideline range of 121 to 151 months because of his 1987 conviction in Utah County of rape and forcible sodomy, attempted rape and kidnapping, all to which he pleaded no contest. His 15-year sentence for the charges was cut almost in half after a 1990 hearing with a pardons panel.

Turley, who was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dee Benson, will be on supervised release for life when he finishes his federal sentence.

Turley's case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative targeting the proliferation of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children.

"The U.S. Attorney's Office in Utah is committed to the safety and well-being of every child and has placed a high priority on combating sexual exploitation of minors," U.S. Attorney David Barlow said Wednesday. "We continue to coordinate with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to protect our children by investigating and aggressively prosecuting online sexual predators."

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Morgan Jacobsen

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