BEDFORD – Lawrence Superior Court II Judge Bob Cline sentenced a Mitchell man to seven years, plus 700 days, in the Indiana Department of Correction Wednesday for the dissemination of child pornography and violating the terms of his probation.
Brennan D. Winkler, 27, pleaded guilty to child exploitation, a Level 4 felony, as a part of a negotiated plea agreement with the State of Indiana. Indiana law provides a range of sentencing for Level 4 felony convictions, with an advisory sentence of six years.
The plea agreement, negotiated by Lawrence County Deputy Prosecutor Lisa Kempf and defense counsel David Shircliff, outlines Winkler will serve seven years in the Indiana Department of Correction, with six years executed and one year served on sex offender probation. In addition, Winkler is required by law to register as a sex offender for 10 years from the time of his release from incarceration.
“Oftentimes, these crimes involving the dissemination and possession of child pornography portraying children from around the world are minimized because the victim isn’t local,” Kempf said. “However, the State of Indiana views these children the same as if they were from our own community. We refuse to be complacent with crimes committed in Lawrence County.
“Here, in Lawrence County, we became members of the Internet Crimes Against Children task force in 2021 under the administration of Lawrence County Prosecuting Attorney Samuel C. Arp II. The task force collaborates with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to eradicate these crimes in our county. The defendant, in this case, had an egregious, heinous, proclivity for exploiting children, so he will have to face the full punishment as allowed by the laws of the State of Indiana.”
At the time of his arrest for child exploitation and dissemination of child pornography in August 2021, Winkler was on probation for a 2020 felony conviction of leaving the scene of an accident.
In addition to the child pornography charges, Winkler also faced revocation of 786 days of a suspended sentence for violating his probation. Judge Cline revoked Winkler’s suspended sentence and sentenced him to 700 days executed in the IDOC. Those days will run consecutive to his conviction of child exploitation.
