Man sentenced to prison after voluntarily admitting to child porn production

GREENSBORO, N.C. – A man who pleaded guilty to production of child pornography was sentenced Wednesday, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Stephen Paul Aydelotte, 48, of Charlotte, pleaded guilty on Sept. 14 to one count of production of child pornography. He was sentenced by United States District Judge William L. Osteen Jr. to 25 years imprisonment followed by lifetime supervised release.

Aydelotte was previously convicted in Utah of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor and twice failing to register as a sex offender, and in North Carolina of failing to register as a sex offender.

In February, Aydelotte voluntarily told authorities that, while living in High Point in 2012, he took photographs of himself sexually exploiting a prepubescent minor. Investigators were then able to recover the photographs from Aydelotte’s phone. Aydelotte also admitted to sexually molesting two minor girls in Utah in 1989.

The United States recommended, and Aydelotte received, a degree of leniency in his sentence because Aydelotte voluntarily disclosed his criminal conduct, which otherwise would have not likely come to light, the release said.