BIRMINGHAM -- An Etowah County man pleaded guilty today in federal court to producing child pornography involving two children in north Alabama, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Raymond R. Parmer Jr. and Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin.
VICTOR GRAY DINGLER, 33, entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Virginia Emerson Hopkins to five counts of producing child pornography between 2008 and 2014. Dingler also pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing child pornography involving children younger than 12. Sentencing is scheduled Feb. 26.
Some of the pornography Dingler produced involved a 3-year-old child. The second victim was an elementary school student in Etowah County, according to court records. The Alabama Department of Education was instrumental in helping law enforcement locate that child in September 2014, after HSI received a series of images that originated from a website located by Danish National Police. One of the images included a blanket bearing an Alabama university logo, according to court records.
Dingler faces a possible sentence of 15 to 30 years in prison on each production of child pornography count, and a maximum of 20 years in prison on each possession count. Both charges carry a maximum $250,000 fine.
The Department of Homeland Security-HSI and the Etowah County Sheriff's Department investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jacquelyn Hutzell, Xavier Carter and Daniel J. Fortune are prosecuting.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
