{"id":24522,"date":"2025-12-05T20:57:50","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T02:57:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=24522"},"modified":"2025-12-05T20:57:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T02:57:50","slug":"olney-man-sentenced-to-35-years-in-prison-on-pornography-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/24522-olney-man-sentenced-to-35-years-in-prison-on-pornography-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"Olney Man Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison on Pornography Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>A district judge sentenced a registered sex offender to 35 years\u2019 imprisonment after he admitted to distributing child pornography and obscene material to a minor.<\/p>\n<p>Edward J. Bates, 57, most recently of Olney, Illinois, pleaded guilty to one count of felon in possession of a firearm, one count of distribution of child pornography, two counts of attempted transfer of obscene matter to a minor, and one count of offense by a registered sex offender. Following imprisonment, Bates will be on supervised release for the rest of his life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only thing worse than child sex offenses is an armed repeat offender,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft. \u201cThis 35-year sentence underscores our commitment to seeking the most significant sentences possible for those who endanger kids.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to court documents, Bates distributed child pornography in Richland County on January 26, 2022. In April 2023, he transferred sexually explicit material to a 10-year-old minor. On June 4, 2024, Bates was found in possession of two firearms and ammunition as a felon.<\/p>\n<p>Bates was previously convicted of two separate child pornography offenses and was therefore required to register as a sex offender. The Government seized a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, a .38 caliber revolver and ammunition.<\/p>\n<p>The Richland County, Illinois, Sheriff\u2019s Office, the Missouri Highway Patrol, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children contributed to the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Sanders prosecuted the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A district judge sentenced a registered sex offender to 35 years\u2019 imprisonment after he admitted to distributing child pornography and obscene material to a minor. Edward J. Bates, 57, most [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":220,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Olney Man Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison on Pornography Charges - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/24522-olney-man-sentenced-to-35-years-in-prison-on-pornography-charges\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Olney Man Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison on Pornography Charges - 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