All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
(Riverton, WY) – 33-year-old Fremont County man Wayne Hatch was arraigned today, April 9, where he pled “not guilty” to two counts of distributing child sexual exploitation material, and one count of possession of child sexual exploitation material.
A jury trial has been set for July 8.
The hearing was overseen by the Honorable Judge Kate McKay, with the State represented by Tim Hancock, and Jonathan Gerard acting as the Defense.
Hatch was arrested on March 19 in relation to a child exploitation warrant issued by the “Casper Division of Criminal Investigation” (i.e. the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation located in Casper).
When County 10 last reported on Hatch, no information affidavit had been filed, but a redacted amended affidavit of probable cause was later made publically available on March 22.
That nine-page affidavit states that on September 26, 2023 the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force received a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
The cybertip indicated a message app account/email address with the name “lilpinkeyes” had been reported to upload six video files of apparent child pornography.
These files reportedly contained videos of children aged from “toddler” to “early pubescent” being forced into explicit sexual situations.
On January 3, 2024 a search warrant was obtained to investigate evidence of child exploitation in relation to the mentioned account name.
The contents of that account included “161 binary unique files,” eight of which were images, while the other 153 were videos ranging from four seconds to over three minutes, according to Court documents.
Examples of the content depicted in these videos and images were described in the affidavit, but are too graphic to share, some of which involved animals and sadomasochism.
Transactions and distribution of said files were conducted through Cash App under the account name “Deadman/$do511237,” Court documents go on to state.
During the course of the investigation, agents also confirmed that as of March 14, Hatch was currently on probation for bringing a controlled substance into a detention facility.
On March 19 the warrant for his arrest was executed, where law enforcement obtained his cell phone that contained the associated screen name and email from the Cash App transactions.
That same day, Hatch told agents that he “admitted to attempting to be a ‘vigilante’ and attempted to extort and blackmail child porn sellers.”
He went on to claim that the “lilpinkeyes” account was one “he had taken over from someone else,” but when “confronted with the fact that only one device had been attached to that account,” he admitted it was his.
Hatch reportedly said that he “believed the username would illicit other individuals to believe he was truly interested in child pornography,” presumably for his “vigilante” efforts.
Hatch then went on to admit to possessing numerous devices related to the mentioned Cash App account, and that he possessed files of child pornography that were on a device that he believed he no longer had in his possession.
It was also determined that Hatch had “used multiple services to hide his identity online and (used) malware to extort others for online money.”
Hatch was then arrested and transported to the Fremont County Detention Center without incident.
Following today’s arraignment, a jury trial was scheduled for July 8.
Distributing child sexual exploitation material is a felony charge that holds a maximum sentence of no less than 5 and up to 12 years imprisonment, and a $10,000 fine.
Possession of child sexual exploitation material is also a felony, and holds a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment, and a $10,000 fine.
County 10 will provide updates on this case as they become available, which can be viewed here.