Stillwater Man Sentenced for Producing Child Pornography

A 41-year-old Stillwater man was sentenced earlier today in federal court in St. Paul for taking illicit photographs of a girl with his cell phone. United States District Court Judge Donovan W. Frank sentenced Shane Allen Werlein to 360 months in prison on one count of production of child pornography. Werlein was indicted on March 9, 2010, and pleaded guilty on September 27, 2010.

In his plea agreement, Werlein admitted that between November of 2009 and February 26, 2010, he used multiple fictitious Facebook profiles to befriend at least two minor females. Those profiles were created as part of a scheme to persuade the girls to engage in sexually explicit acts and provide Werlein with photos of those acts. Werlein also admitted having sexual contact with the girls and using his cell phone to take photos of them. He then downloaded the photos to his computer.

This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Stillwater Police Department, the Washington County Sheriff's Office, and the Minneapolis Police Department. All four agencies are affiliates of the Minnesota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney LeeAnn K. Bell.

The U.S. Department of Justice is committed to combating the sexual exploitation of children. For more information about these efforts, visit the Department's Project Safe Childhood website at www.projectsafechildhood.gov.