Colorado Deputy Retired In Sheridan Sentenced For Accessing Child Porn

A former Colorado sheriff’s deputy who was caught in Sheridan, Wyoming, with child pornography has been sentenced to 41 months in prison.  

Christopher Mark Haenel, 41, was sentenced Nov. 7 by U.S. District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson for accessing with intent to view child pornography.

Haenel is a retired Adams County, Colorado, deputy sheriff. Investigators noticed him when Kik, a social media site, reported he was using the forum to share child porn.  

The original indictment in Haenel’s case, filed in May, said the pornography featured pre-pubescent children.

He also was originally charged with an additional, more serious charge of child-porn distribution featuring a minimum five-year prison sentence – a maximum 20-year sentence – but Haenel ultimately was not convicted of that charge.

His indictment claimed he knowingly distributed child pornography using his Apple cellphone.  

The federal government said it could exercise its jurisdiction over Haenel because the phone had impacted interstate commerce.  

Haenel’s prison term is to be followed by five years of supervised release. The court also ordered Haenel to pay $5,000 in special assessment fees pursuant to the Victims of Sex Trafficking Act of 2015, $600 in other special assessments and $3,000 in restitution to a victim, according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Wyoming.  

Homeland Security Investigation’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) investigated the case along with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation’s ICAC task force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christyne M Martens prosecuted the case, according to the statement.