First of three Pike men federally charged with child sexual exploitation in 2021 pleads guilty – WLDS

One of three Pike County men indicted by a federal grand jury nearly three years ago on charges of sexual exploitation of a child has pleaded guilty.

Anthony M. Westemeyer, 36, of Nebo, pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual exploitation of a child on July 31^st.

Westemeyer, along with 40-year-old Bobby J. Warner and 58-year-old Michael Wallace, were indicted on the charges in September 2021. Westemeyer was already being held in the Pike County Jail at the time of his indictment. He was arrested by Pike County Sheriff’s deputies at his Nebo residence on May 19, 2021, on two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child. The Pike County Sheriff’s Office also executed a search warrant at his Nebo residence and collected several items of evidence.

The federal indictment against the three men alleges that in May 2021 they solicited a minor victim to engage in sexually explicit conduct, which was recorded and stored on a computer.

The following agencies are collaborating in the investigation: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, the Pike County Sheriff’s Office, and the Pike County District Attorney’s Office.

Westemeyer is expected to be sentenced on October 29^and.

Warner will appear in federal court again on December 4^andWallace will have a video conference with Judge Colleen Lawless in Springfield later this morning in the Illinois Superior Court.