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Press Release

West Valley Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Federal Prison after Pleading Guilty to Possession of Child Pornography

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Utah

            SALT LAKE CITY - U.S. District Judge Dee Benson sentenced Shawn William Turley, age 50, of West Valley City to 15 years in prison Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City. Turley, who pleaded guilty in January to possession of child pornography, will be on supervised release for life when he finishes his federal sentence.

            The federal sentencing guideline range in the case was 121-151 months. As a part of a plea agreement reached in the case, a 15-year sentence was recommended to the Court. Turley faced the significant sentence because of his prior convictions.

            As a part of the plea agreement, Turley admitted that Utah Adult Probation and Parole agents conducted a field visit at his residence in July 2013 after a 12-year-old child disclosed that he had been sexually abusing her for a year. The agents located a phone hidden under Turley’s mattress and box springs during the field visit. West Valley City police officers and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations agents joined the investigation. Turley admitted in the plea agreement that his phone contained more than 600 images of prepubescent and pubescent females in sexually suggestive poses.

            Turley admitted he obtained the pictures using a peer-to-peer network. As a part of the plea agreement, Turley also admitted to law enforcement officers that he sexually abused the 12-year-old child for approximately one year. He also acknowledged that he was being supervised by Utah Adult Probation and Parole for 1987 convictions for at least one qualifying first-degree felony in Utah’s Fourth District Court in Utah County.

            The case was investigated by Utah Adult Probation and Parole, the West Valley City Police Department, and HSI. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Salt Lake City.

Updated March 17, 2015

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