Local News: Cape County Man Arrested for Alleged Sexual Exploitation of Minor, Possession of Child Pornography (10-09-24)

Thaddeus Schwepker

A Cape Girardeau County man was booked into the Cape Girardeau County Jail on Sunday, September 8, for allegedly sexually exploiting a minor and possessing child pornography.

Cape Girardeau Police received reports of an alleged incident involving Thaddeus Schwepker, 52, and a minor dating back to around August 5, 2019.

According to a police statement, police were informed on March 31 that Schwepker had allegedly confessed to filming a minor.

The probable cause indicated that when the minor was 12 or 13 years old, they had fallen asleep while taking a bath when Schwepker allegedly took a video of them. Officers were told the video was taken around August 5, 2019.

“During the video, Thaddeus (Schwepker) zoomed in on (redacted)’s face and genitals. (Redacted) informed officers that the video was stored on a virtual server somewhere, but could not provide any further information. (Redacted) stated that (redacted) did not report this immediately because (redacted) wanted (redacted) to make a decision to go public,” the probable cause affidavit states.

According to the probable cause affidavit, the officer was able to view the video on April 2, which was sent to the email address of a person whose name was redacted. The probable cause affidavit stated that the video showed a shower curtain being opened while the victim was lying naked on his back, the video then zoomed in on the victim’s genitals. The shower curtain was then closed and the video lasted “approximately 30 seconds.”

According to a forensic interview conducted on June 5, as described in the probable cause affidavit, one interviewee believed it was summer when the video was recorded, was asleep when the video was recorded, and did not know about it until after it happened. Due to the numerous redactions in the probable cause affidavit, it is unclear who was speaking in the interview, but it was stated that Schwepker is not now living with either person since the allegations “resurfaced.”

In the interview, the person also indicated that Schwepker reportedly had multiple cell phones and so it is unknown whether the video is still on his phone.

When the probable cause affidavit was written, police had not heard from Schwepker after trying to talk to him multiple times to confiscate his phone. According to the case history, Schwepker’s arrest warrant was out on Sunday, September 8.

Schwepker is being held on $50,000 bail.