Dan R. Waeckerle, Jr. (Illinois State Police Sex Offender Registry)

A registered child sexual predator from Swansea has been sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for sexually exploiting a 15-year-old girl.

Dan R. Waeckerle Jr., 45, was sentenced to 485 months in federal prison, to be followed by lifetime court supervision. His attorney had asked for a 35-year sentence and five years’ supervision.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ali Burns and Zoe Gross, who prosecuted the case against Waeckerle, argued for an enhanced sentence, saying that in early 2021 Waeckerle preyed upon a vulnerable 15-year-old with whom he was intimately familiar with through his friendship with her family. Waeckerle, they said, used that knowledge to exploit the girl “for his own depraved desires.”

When confronted by police, prosecutors say, “Waeckerle took every opportunity to victim blame and minimize his actions,” blaming the girl for sending him sexual photos and claiming that she “had an ‘infatuation’ with him that he did not entertain.”

Waeckerle’s attorney argued at sentencing that his actions were limited to online activity with the girl, and that he “never touched or had any sexual contact with” the girl.

Prosectors strongly disagreed, telling the court that “The harm Waeckerle has inflicted on (the girl) has had lasting impact.” In seeking an enhanced sentence, they argued that Waeckerle’s “history and characteristics establish a pattern of targeting and sexually abusing minors.”

In 2010 Waeckerle was convicted in Hamilton County of Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse of a 14-year-old girl and was sentenced to four years in prison and required to register as a sex offender. Prosecutors say he was charged with sexually abusing numerous girls, ranging in age between 5 years old and 14, but ultimately pleaded guilty to sexually abusing the one girl.

Upon his parole after two years, they say, he was found within 1,500 feet of a school, and his parole was revoked and he was returned to prison.

Prosecutors told the court that a prison sentence and his registration as a sex offender had not deterred him from accessing minors.

“If anything, Waeckerle found means to evolve his abuse of minors to be more concealed, as evidenced by his use of the phone and internet …” they told the court. “His propensity to abuse minors was also significant — not one isolated incident or a momentary lapse in judgment — but through the use of grooming and manipulation.”

Noting that, unlike many other crimes, “the rate of sex offenses increases as the offender’s age increases, specifically over the age of 70,” prosecutors urged the judge to impose an enhanced sentence “to protect the public by his removal from society.”

U.S. Attorney for Southern Illinois Rachelle Aud Crowe vowed that people who target and exploit children sexually will continue to be a focus of her office.

“Child predators like Waeckerle leave their victims with lasting trauma, and this significant prison sentence sends a strong message to abusers,” she said. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to work with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to protect children from offenders.”

Aud Crowe particularly commended the O’Fallon Police Department “for their investigation which ultimately placed Waeckerle behind bars.” She also praised the broad supported local law enforcement receives. In this case, that included by the U.S. Secret Service Central and Southern Illinois Financial and Cyber Crimes Task Force, with additional support by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, Swansea Police Department, and the Illinois State Police.