A federal jury convicted a Swansea man who was already registered as a sex offender with exploiting another minor.

In 2010, Dan R. Waeckerle Jr., 44, was convicted of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor in Hamilton County. On Friday, a jury in the U.S. Court for the Southern District of Illinois, found him guilty of soliciting obscene visual depiction of a minor, transferring obscene matter to a minor, and sexual exploitation of a minor by a registered sex offender.

Because of his prior conviction, Waeckerle now faces a minimum sentence of of 25 years in a federal prison. Waeckerle’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on May 21 at the federal courthouse in Benton.

“I’m grateful for the law enforcement agencies who investigated this case and pursued justice for Waeckerle’s victim and prevented other children from his abuse,” said U.S. Attorney Rachelle Aud Crowe.

According to court documents, Waeckerle had sexually explicit conversations with a minor via text message in July 2021, which included sending a nude image of himself and requesting sexually explicit images from the minor. It went on to include discussion of meeting the minor for sex.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Secret Service Central and Southern Illinois Financial and Cyber Crimes Task Force, with members from the O’Fallon Police Department leading the investigation, according to a release from Crowe’s office.

The Illinois Attorney General’s Office, Swansea Police Department and the Illinois State Police also assisted, the release stated.

“We are thankful for the training and resources provided by our federal partners which have allowed our detectives to be extremely successful in investigating cases such as these,” said O’Fallon Police Captain Mike Mojzis. “We appreciate the hard work and dedication of our detectives in striving to seek justice for the victim.”

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ali Burns and Zoe Gross prosecuted the case.