A 63-year-old Verona man is facing at least five years in prison after he sent hundreds of child pornography files using the social media app MeWe, court records show.
Richard Weller pleaded guilty to a charged of distribution of child pornography last week and will be sentenced July 29.
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According to a statement of facts, Weller created nine accounts on MeWe and had “at lest approximately 638 images and 89 videos depicting child pornography.”
“Weller also utilized seven of these MeWe accounts to distribute one or more child pornography files to other users on at least approximately 24 occasions,” court records said.
Weller used the user names Juan Lastime, Juan Lesstime, Juan Goodtime, Juan Motime, Juan Twothree, David Dickson, Dave Jackson and Captain Obvious on the MeWe app, records show.
A spokesman for MeWe said the company removed Weller from its app and reported him to authorities.
“MeWe is vigilant about this issue and we have an outstanding Trust and Safety Team that works hard every day to proactively investigate and remove TOS-violaters,” the spokesman said. “Illegal activity can be reported to law enforcement at MeWe’s discretion, and law enforcement can follow procedures in our terms to request information from us.”
Court records showed the crimes happened between August 2019 and March 2020.
Weller is out of jail on his own recognizance until his sentencing this summer, records showed.