Former Waterloo Resident Pleads Guilty to Receiving Child Pornography

Mark A. Brueggemann, 60, of Waterloo, Illinois, has been convicted of knowingly receiving child pornography, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Steven D. Weinhoeft, announced today. Brueggemann pleaded guilty to a one-count federal indictment without a plea agreement. He faces a prison sentence of 5 to 20 years on the charge. Sentencing is set for March 27, 2019, at the federal courthouse in East St. Louis.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."

The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and the United States Secret Service’s Springfield Electronic Crime Unit-Southern Illinois Cyber Group. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Laura V. Reppert.