A Logan man plead guilty in U.S. District Court to involvement with child pornography and now faces a possible sentence of 135 months in prison.Douglas Scott Bessinger, 47, plead guilty on Oct. 28 to one count of distribution of child pornography. A second count, possession of child pornography, was dropped as part of the plea bargain. Bessinger has been ordered by a federal judge to undergo a psychosexual examination prior to sentencing. Sentencing is scheduled for March 3. Investigators believe Bessinger, using the screen name “knotdboi,” communicated with a concerned citizen in February via Skype about his child pornography distribution. The day after the Skype session, the concerned citizen met with an officer from the Redlands Police Department in California. The concerned citizen said “knotdboi,” who called himself “Doug,” showed the citizen videos of child pornography through the webcam. California officers used information provided by the citizen, such as photos from “Doug’s” Facebook account and his telephone number, to identify Bessinger as “Doug,” according to court documents. Redlands officers then contacted the Cache County Sheriff’s Office, and investigators obtained a search warrant for Bessinger’s home. On July 7, the warrant was executed and investigators found images of “children engaging in sexual activity with adults” on Bessinger’s laptop, according to court documents. Bessinger was arrested and interviewed at the time the warrant was executed, and initially denied involvement with child pornography. After further being questioned, Bessinger said he had seen some child pornography on accident, and that he had shared it with others through the internet. Bessinger admitted to having between 300 to 600 images of child pornography at his residence in Utah at the time of the search warrant. As part of his plea, Bessinger agreed to forfeit any of his assets used in the crime, from laptops and webcams to still and video cameras. – [email protected]
Logan resident pleads guilty to distributing child pornography
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