A 45-year-old Hutchinson man arrested back in August of last year for allegedly downloading child porn was sentenced Friday to 32-months in prison. .
Judge Trish Rose ruled that Wayne Hegner shouldn’t be given any type of probation even though the case falls in a border box which means she had the option of prison or probation.
Defense Attorney Sarah McKinnon argued for probation saying there are treatment programs available and believes that would be more effective for her client then prison. She says her client was depressed and admits what he was doing was wrong. She says he has been attending treatment through Horizon’s.
But, Senior Assistant District Attorney Steve Maxwell described the videos and pictures in graphic detail saying there were as many as 500-downloaded or exchanged with others on the internet. Maxwell called them a series of acts and says the videos were “graphic, vile and reprehensible.” McKinnon fired back that he didn’t share with anyone else, merely downloaded the pictures.
Hegner admitted that when he learned of a search warrant was being served on his home and computers, he attempted suicide but failed. He admitted that what he did was “stupid, immoral and immature.” He told the judge that he would stop at different times, delete the file, but then a few weeks later would load it again.
Hegner had been charged with two counts of sexual exploitation of a child, but entered a plea to just one count while the state dropped the other. By entering the plea, he avoided a trial in the case.
The case started with police investigating Hegner allegedly downloading the pictures using a website, “Peer-to-Peer” file sharing. It’s a website where people exchange and send each other this kind of material. This allegedly going on for over a year, Maxwell saying maybe as long as two years.
Police Detective Scott Carlton told us at the time of the arrest that he had been investigating the case for a couple of months prior to Hegner being taken into custody and a look at his computer showed a few hundred files of child porn.
Hegner will also have to register as a sex offender.