Anthony Fletcher - Repeat Sex Offender

A Bloomington man was convicted in federal court on child pornography charges relating to incidents in McLean County.

Anthony Fletcher, 44, faces up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced May 9 on the federal charges.

Federal prosecutors argued that Fletcher “employed and used minors under the age of 18 to engage in sexually explicit conduct to produce pictures and video clips of child pornography” in April 2006 in Bloomington.

The charges also accused Fletcher of attempting to use minors to produce child pornography from 2005 through April 2006 in Decatur and Bloomington and similar conduct in 2002 in Mattoon.

Evidence presented in the eight-day jury trial alleged that Fletcher, who was arrested in May 2006, possessed hundreds of pornographic images of children on his computer and other digital storage devices. He was convicted Tuesday.

Earlier conviction

The federal case against Fletcher follows a conviction in McLean County last year for child pornography and aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Fletcher, who worked as a graphic artist before his arrest, was sentenced to 29 years in prison for pornography and an additional 12 years on the molestation conviction.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas Keith and Bradley Murphy handled the Peoria trial. Police agencies assisting with the investigation of Fletcher’s case included the Bloomington and Peoria police, the FBI and the Central Illinois Cybercrime Unit.

Fletcher was indicted on the federal charges in March 2007 and has been in federal custody since he was sentenced in July in McLean County.