United States Attorney Dennis R. Holmes announced that a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for Attempted Production of Child Pornography and Transfer of Obscene Materials to Minor.
Luke John Schauer, age 28, was indicted on March 1, 2022. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Veronica L. Duffy on March 4, 2022, and pled not guilty to the Indictment.
The maximum penalty upon conviction is up to 30 years in federal prison and/or a $250,000 fine, life of supervised release, and up to $200 to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Restitution may also be ordered.
The Indictment alleges that between January 18, 2022, and February 4, 2022, Schauer attempted to employ, use, persuade, induce, entice, and coerce an OCE undercover agent posing as a 12-year-old female minor, to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of such conduct, knowing and having reason to know that such depictions would be transported in interstate or foreign commerce or mailed, and such depictions would be produced using materials that had been mailed, shipped, and transported in interstate and foreign commerce, including by computer.
The Indictment also alleges that during the same periods of time, Schauer knowingly used his cellular phone to transfer and attempt to transfer obscene materials to the same undercover agent posing as a 12-year-old child.
The charges are merely accusations and Schauer is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
The investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, with cooperation from the Sioux Falls Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Clapper is prosecuting the case.
Schauer was released pending trial which has been scheduled for April 19, 2022.