A Chehalis man arrested in July for uploading sexually explicit photos of children to the internet was sentenced Thursday to just over five years in prison.
Tanner Girolamo McNelly, 21, of Chehalis, pleaded guilty Feb. 12 to three counts of first-degree possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
“I did knowingly possess visual or printed matter depicting a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct — actual intercourse, and it was at least three separate images,” McNelly stated in a written guilty plea filed in Lewis County Superior Court on Feb. 12.
McNelly was sentenced by Judge Paul Strophy on Thursday to 61 months on each count to run concurrently, followed by 36 months in community custody.
He will also be required to register as a sex offender, according to court documents.
McNelly was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail on July 23, 2024, following an investigation into a national Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program tip.
The Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program had notified the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office that someone in Lewis County had uploaded suspected child pornography to a Discord server, according to court documents.
A Discord user reported the images to Discord on Jan. 21, 2024, according to court documents.
Discord subsequently closed the account, removed the images and forwarded the information to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which filed a tip with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program.
Detectives with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reportedly confirmed the Discord account was associated with McNelly and had been active since June 8, 2021.
Detectives obtained a search warrant for McNelly’s Discord account on July 1, 2024, and contacted McNelly on Tuesday, July 23.
When questioned, McNelly reportedly admitted to using Discord to send and receive illicit images of children. He allegedly “said something came into his brain somewhere that it was okay to be attracted to younger people, kids,” and said “the purpose of the photos were a ‘weird curiosity’ and agreed it was for sexual gratification ‘to an extent,’” according to court documents.
He reportedly said he had obtained over 100 photos of children and adults “over a period of time” and “did trade photos from time to time,” according to court documents.
McNelly was out of custody on $25,000 unsecured bail while his case was pending, but was remanded into custody after he entered his guilty plea.
