Natrona County Men Plead Guilty to Child Pornography Charges

Two Alcova men and one Casper-area man have pleaded guilty to child pornography charges in federal court in recent weeks.

Ray Donald Lucero Jr. pleaded guilty to three counts of production of child pornography on Nov. 30, according to federal court records.

Richard Thomas Willden pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography on Dec. 9.

Connor William Biggs Farley pleaded guilty to three counts of production of child pornography on Monday.

Other counts will be dismissed at their sentencing hearings scheduled for February before U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Freudenthal.

In late March, a federal special agent was asked to help a Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agent who was investigating Willden, Farley and Lucero and their alleged involvement in child pornography crimes, according to an affidavit accompanying the amended criminal complaint filed by the agent.

The DCI's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force had received cybertips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which had received the tips from Facebook in October 2019.

Farley and Lucero were married in November 2016, they lived in a small camper in Alcova, and Lucero is a registered sex offender, according to the affidavit.

In January, the DCI agent searched a Google account belonging to Farley and emails related to the cybertips. The agent found five images taken in the camper with a male victim born in 2010 who was asleep next to Lucero. Lucero is related to the victim's mother, and they would routinely babysit the victim and her three other children, according to the affidavit.

The agents later found six images and two videos involving the boy and probably Farley. Willden probably received the videos on his Google account in September 2019. Two of the images showed the victim asleep next to probably Lucero.

Farley and Lucero "knowingly used, persuaded, induced, enticed, and coerced a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct." Willden "did knowingly possess material which contained images of child pornography," according to the affidavit.

Conviction of production of child pornography is punishable by between 15 and 30 years imprisonment, five years to life supervised probation after release from custody, a $5,000 special assessment according to the Victims of Sex Trafficking Act of 2015, and up to $35,000 special assessment and mandatory restitution of not less than $3,000 per requesting victim according to the Amy, Vicky and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act of 2018.

Conviction of possession of child pornography is punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment, and the other penalties as production of child pornography.

Conviction of receipt of child pornography is punishable by between five years and 20 years imprisonment, and the other penalties as production of child pornography.

The government regards child pornography as a crime of violence because it involves sometimes brutal assaults on very young children who cannot give consent to sexual activity.