Wellington man sentenced in child pornography case

A 48-year-old Wellington man has been sentenced to eight years and four months in federal prison for distributing child pornography.

The man, Steven J. Meisel, was sentenced Monday and will serve 10 years on supervised release after his 100-month prison sentence is completed, according to a news release issued by U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom.

Meisel was convicted on one count of distributing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence showing that on May 9, 2014, a Wichita police detective downloaded child pornography over the ARES P2P computer network. The files included images of prepubescent children engaged in sex acts. Investigators then followed an electronic trail to Meisel’s computer in Wellington, the news release said.

The Wichita Police Department, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office, the Exploited and Missing Child Unit, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Wellington Police Department and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Hart were commended by Grissom for their work in solving the case.

This story was originally published July 27, 2015 at 5:18 PM with the headline "Wellington man sentenced in child pornography case."