A first lieutenant in the Minnesota National Guard pleaded guilty this week to having a 14-year-old girl send him sexually explicit material online while he was deployed to Afghanistan. a count of producing child pornography for soliciting and acquiring an explicit photo from a 14-year-old girl on the internet while deployed.
Schiller also admitted that while deployed to Afghanistan in 2013-2014, he tried to convince "actively enticed and attempted to entice numerous other children," including a second 14-year-old in Missouri and a 15-year-old in North Carolina, multiple minors to send him sexually explicit photos and videos to him, according to a Justice Department news release said.
A sentencing hearing for the first lieutenant
will be scheduled at a later date. The plea agreement notes that by statute, Schiller faces 15-30 years in prison, and a fine of up to $17,500 to $250,000.
The government said Schiller found the girls on a variety of websites and directed the conversations to sexual topics. He enticed them and would entice girls with promises of alcohol or money in exchange for sexually explicit images or live video chats. He also encouraged them by sending explicit photos of himself. According to the government, he had used a variety of online handles, including "thriller_a_schiller3" on Skype, "funinlife" on MyLOL and "mnfuntimes" on Meet Me, as well as a Facebook account.
The plea deal says the defense objects to some enhancements sought by the government, which could affect the length of Schiller's prison term.; decisions at sentencing could significantly alter his prison term. The three disputed enhancements: whether he's a "repeat and dangerous sex offender against minors," whether the offense included distribution of the sexually explicit material and whether the offense involved two other named victims.
If the court rules for the defense on all the enhancements, the sentencing guidelines would max out at the statutory minimum of 15 years. If it favors the prosecution in all three, the minimum would rise to 30 years. The court is not bound by sentencing guidelines; a judge has discretion to deviate from them for other considerations while adhering to the statute.
Schiller was arrested on March 19 and indicted March 25. The case was investigated by the Army Criminal Investigation Command and the FBI.
