UPDATE: A former Las Vegas illusionist pleaded guilty on Thursday before U.S. District Chief Judge Gloria M. Navarro to possession, receipt, and distribution of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden for the District of Nevada.
Jan Rouven Fuechtener, aka Lars Schmidt, 39, a citizen of Germany, was indicted on March 30, 2016. Sentencing has been scheduled for March 16, 2017, before Chief Judge Navarro.
According to court documents and admissions made in court, on August 2015, a Task Force Officer from the FBI Buffalo Field Office Child Exploitation Task Force in New York, operating in an undercover capacity, was accepted as a friend by user name “Lars45” on GigaTribe, a peer-to-peer file sharing program.
On Sept.14, 2015, the officer used the password previously supplied by Lars45 and was able to access and browse Lars45’s shared directories.
The officer downloaded numerous files after observing file titles indicative of child pornography. On Jan. 21, 2016, during the execution of a search warrant at the defendant’s residence in Las Vegas, law enforcement seized 38 devices throughout the residence.
A forensic examination of the seized devices revealed that there were over 9,000 videos depicting children engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
Fuechtener admitted that the Lars45 GigaTribe account belonged to him.
Fuechtener further admitted to using the Skype username “larusa22” to engage in chats to offer to distribute child pornography by sharing his GigaTribe Lars45 folder in exchange for a thing of value. Skype user account larusa22 is associated with an email address belonging to Fuechtener.
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Trial has been pushed back in Las Vegas for an illusionist performer from Germany who faces the possibility of decades in prison and up to $1 million in fines on federal child pornography charges.
Jan Rouven Fuechtener's attorney, Jess Marchese, said Monday he's still collecting information and preparing his defense for trial Nov. 14.
RELATED: Trial reset in US porn case for German illusionist in Las Vegas
Proceedings had been due to begin this week in U.S. District Court.
Fuechtener is a German citizen who headlined on the Las Vegas Strip as Jan Rouven.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
His show closed following his arrest March 16, and he remains in federal custody.
Prosecutors allege that Fuechtener collected more than 3,500 videos and images on computers at his home, including some depicting sex acts with kindergarten-age children.
