Holly Springs Man Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison on Child Pornography Charges

NEW BERN, N.C. – Wayne Kenneth Dare, 41, of Holly Springs was sentenced yesterday to 14 years in prison followed by 10 years supervised release for receipt of child pornography.  Dare pled guilty to the offense.

According to court documents and other information presented in court, detectives with the Cary Police Department conducted a proactive investigation on a peer-to-peer sharing network trying to identify individuals trading and collecting child sexual abuse material.  Detectives were able to download child pornography from the computer with an IP address associated with an address in Cary.

The detectives obtained a search warrant for the home associated with the IP address used to distribute child pornography.  Dare lived at this address.  When officers and agents arrived at the home to execute the search warrant, Dare was present.  He agreed to speak to law enforcement and confessed to having received child pornography and continuing to possess it.  Dare told law enforcement he had been viewing child pornography since 2009.

A forensic analysis was performed on his digital devices that were seized pursuant to the search warrant.  Agents found 1,236 images and 488 videos of child sexual abuse material.  Some of the images depicted toddlers and sadistic and masochistic conduct.  At least two of the videos Dare possessed were over an hour in length. 

Michael Easley, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after the sentencing was concluded.  U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan presided over the sentencing. Homeland Security Investigation, the Cary and Holly Springs Police Departments, and the United States Marshals Service investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Charity Wilson and Jacob Pugh prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on our website. Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for Case No. 5:21-CR-430.

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