Leavenworth Man Sentenced to 21+ Years in Federal Prison on Sexual Abuse Charges

KANSAS CITY, KS—Chris Dwire, 37, of Leavenworth, Kansas, has been sentenced to 262 months in federal prison on sexual abuse charges, U.S. Attorney Lanny Welch said today.

Dwire pleaded guilty to one count of attempted sexual abuse of a child and one count of producing child pornography. He admitted that in Dec. 8, 2008, a woman called the Leavenworth Police Department to report her 13-year-old daughter was communicating on the Internet with an unknown male who arranged to meet her for sex.

Police arrested Dwire when he stopped his white Chevrolet pickup in the alley behind the girl’s home. Dwire told officers he was going to meet the girl in order to warn her not to engage in sex acts with strangers, but police found a Kodak Easy Share digital camera in his truck. Investigators reviewed the record of chat sessions in which Dwire talked about having sex with the girl, which established his intent for being in the alley behind the girl’s home. Examiners from the Heart of America Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory found 90 movies on Dwire’s computer showing children engaged in sex acts. The computer also contained child pornography Dwire had produced himself. The child pornography produced by Dwire included images of a female less than 13 years of age.

In court, Dwire admitted that he assumed the identity of a teenage girl from Leavenworth on a social networking site and through the use of that identity, persuaded the 13-year-old to communicate with him through an instant messaging service. Dwire further admitted that he used the false identity to persuade the 13-year-old victim to engage in sexual conversations with him, which he intended to lead to sexual activity with the 13-year-old on December 8, so he could produce more child pornography.

Welch commended the Leavenworth Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Cyber Crimes Task Force and Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Rask for their work on the case. The case was prosecuted through Project Safe Childhood. For more information see www.projectsafechildhood.gov.