Washington Man Sentenced On Child Pornography Charges

A Washington man has been sentenced to five years in the Missouri Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to two counts of child pornography.

Gage Cadotte was sentenced Feb. 23.

Cadotte came under investigation after a law enforcement officer tracked seven downloadable child pornography files from an IP address located in Washington in June 2018.

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Cyber Crime Task Force executed a search warrant Aug. 1, 2018 at Southwinds Circle, along with members of the St. Charles County Cyber Crimes Task Force and Washington Police.

Electronic devices belonging to Cadotte were seized from the apartment and forensic analysis contained remnants of child pornography.

Cadotte was charged in February 2019.

Sheriff Steven Pelton commended the cyber crimes investigators “for a collaborative effort to ensure the safety of our children.”

Pelton said the sheriff’s office will “aggressively pursue cyber criminals utilizing the Internet to sexually exploit children and those trading images and videos depicting children engaged in sexual acts.”