Ohio man, 79, sentenced to 20 years in prison for sexually abusing toddler

This week in Ohio, 79-year-old Thomas Winkelbach of Cincinnati was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 240 months in prison and a lifetime of supervised release for taking sexually explicit photos of a toddler victim.  Back in July, Winkelbach pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor.

According to court documents, Winkelbach used a digital camera to take sexually explicit pictures of a young child touching Winkelbach’s penis and other pictures of Winkelbach masturbating in front of the victim. The crime occurred in 2014 or 2015, but the exact date is unknown. The victim was between 1 and 2 years old.

One of thousands of digital child porn images recovered from his home electronic devices shows Winkelbach naked with a two-year-old girl, according to WKRC.

Investigators say in court documents that Winkelbach has been searching for, downloading and trading child pornography on the Internet for years. Between all of his digital media seized by investigators in October 2019, Winkelbach possessed thousands of images of child pornography.

Officials with the Department of Justice said when investigators searched Winkelbach’s computer, they also found other images of child porn including images of children younger than 12. ~ Fox 19 Now

The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and Cincinnati Police Department’s Regional Electronics Computer Investigations (RECI) Task Force investigated this case.

Considering Winkelbach.s advanced age, a 20-year- prison term basically represents a life sentence for him behind bars – a sentence well deserved.  For more on the story, see the video accompanying this article.

(Source:  U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Ohio)
(Cover Booking Photo, Thomas Winkelbach, Image credit: Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office)

~ Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today   /   Follow Richard on Facebook and Twitter