ST. GEORGE – A Dammeron Valley man pleaded guilty in federal district court to producing child pornography.
Dean Aoki, 48, stood before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert T. Braithwaite and pleaded guilty to a charge of producing child pornography as a part of a plea deal.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Bell, read the maximum penalties Aoki could face, which included 30 years in prison, supervised probation for life, and a $250,000 fine. Under the plea deal, the prosecution recommended a 20-year prison term and 10 years supervised probation.
Aoki was arrested in September 2013 for using a minor to produce child pornography and then sharing it with an individual over the Internet with the expectation of releasing similar photos in return. The person on the other side of the Internet turned out to be an FBI agent. Aoki’s case was originally handled in 5th District Court, but was ultimately dismissed as it became a federal case.
The defense asked that Aoki, under supervision, be released from jail for a time before his sentencing so he could put his affairs in order before going to prison. The defense added that Aoki had been seeing a counselor, and the counselor indicated Aoki was unlikely to re-offend after undergoing through the proper treatment.
Bell voiced his opposition to releasing Aoki and Braithwaite subsequently denied the request.
Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 2.
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Child predators are the pig dung of the planet .
They should all be shipped to an island with NO kids .
This ought to qualify him worthy of priest status, maybe higher.
You need to step your game up Koolio. You’re becoming way stale and completely predictable.
How often do you read about priests messing around with little kids? Too often. Yet, the faithful followers protect their priests, not the children. The Catholic church has been frequently criticized for this atrocity. Just how bad is this problem in the religious environs of Utah? It’s bad enough girls in Utah feel compelled to get married before they are adults? Is that perv or what?
If you made a point like this from time to time, instead of taking predictable, cheap potshots at religion, people might actually take you seriously. Or not.
The scary part is these sex crimes seem to be a regular thing in southern Utah, and it’s the people born and raised here who are getting caught. With people so suspicious of everybody, I’d caution decent and normal people of involvement with youth oriented programs less they be falsely accused of wrongdoing,
He is weak and predictable. A flawed being. There is a timely study about Koolaid by Prof. Jennifer Golbeck in Psychology Today.
Put a bow on this guy, throw him into general population in prison and tell the other inmates “Merry Christmas!”
Is he related to that guy busted in Cedar City for child porn last week?
Hey it seems they found someone to fill in for Warren Jeffs