Belleville man pleads guilty to producing and distributing child porn

A Belleville man has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to four counts of production, distribution, and transportation of child sexual abuse material.

According to court documents, Zachary Dennert, 21, created social media profiles on several platforms and posed as teenage girl in 2020.

Using the profiles, he convinced under aged boys ranging from 11 to 15 years old to send him explicit images. Investigators recovered more than 600 images of child sexual abuse material from Dennert’s account.

Dennert will serve 10 years of supervised release following his prison sentence.

“The defendant targeted young boys on social media, gained their trust by pretending to be a young girl and exploited his victims for sexual images,” said U.S. Attorney Rachelle Aud Crowe. “His sentence reflects the severity of his manipulative behavior, and I applaud the investigative agencies for their work in bringing this offender to justice.”

Task force members with the U.S. Secret Service and the O’Fallon Police Department conducted the investigation, with assistance from St. Clair County State’s Attorney Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexandria Burns prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice.

This story was originally published July 11, 2023 at 9:54 AM.