CHEYENNE — A Hudson man will go to federal prison for at least the next 10 years of his life after pleading guilty Thursday to possessing child pornography, his second child porn conviction.
Sean Brennan, 58, pleaded guilty to the charge in U.S. District Court in Cheyenne on Thursday. The felony charge carries a minimum sentence of 10 years and up to 20 years in prison, as well as up to $250,000 in fines.
From Feb. 17, 2018, to about Sept. 6, 2024, Brennan “knowingly” possessed child pornography images involving prepubescent minors on his Dell Notebook computer, his Apple iPad Mini, an HP laptop and a Sony laptop.
All of these devices were found at Brennan’s girlfriend’s house, and he will not be able to get them back, according to court documents.
“You acted knowingly and knew what you were doing,” U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson told Brennan.
Johnson will deliver Brennan’s prison time at his sentencing in June.
Brennan, wearing orange prison garb beneath his gray, balding hair that tied into a tightly wound ponytail, didn’t say much during Thursday’s hearing.
He did, however, make the claim that despite admitting his guilt to possessing child porn on his various computers, he’s bad with technology.
To this remark, Johnson responded that, “You’re tech savvy enough to get yourself in some deep trouble.”
Now that he’s pleaded guilty, Brennan will not be able to appeal the charge.
According to evidence discussed in court, one of the images found in Brennan’s possession was of a prepubescent female showing her nude body parts while lying chest down on a bed in a “lascivious” manner.
Messy Past And Present
Brennan was also convicted of a child pornography crime while he was living in Arizona around 25 years ago and had to register as a sex offender for the crime.
In that case, Brennan said he was convicted after doing research on a public library computer about which nude beach to visit with his then-girlfriend, and some of the websites happened to contain pictures of underaged girls.
Brennan already got fired from his job and jailed last fall after becoming the subject of a vigilante video to confront alleged child sex predators in September 2024. While this video was being shot, Brennan’s boss came outside demanding to know what was happening, and when he found out fired Brennan immediately.
The federal charge followed the state case from this event, where the Fremont County Attorney’s Office charged him with third-degree sexual abuse of a minor.
When the feds filed their charges, that case was dropped, but handed off to the federal authorities for possible prosecution at a later date.
Brennan’s attorney Craig Silva said his client had wanted to plead guilty by Zoom instead of doing so in the courtroom out of embarrassment for the child porn charge he received and his bad knees.
Johnson rejected that request and said it was important for him to look Brennan in the eyes and make sure he wasn’t influenced in making his guilty plea that he will put Brennan away for “a long, long time.”
How Much Time Will He Get?
Johnson accepted Brennan’s guilty plea Thursday, but won’t sentence the man until June 24. The federal government has recommended that Brennan be charged on the lower end of the 10-to-20-year range.
A pre-sentencing report will be provided to the judge to help make his decision about how much time Brennan will spend in prison; however, the judge indicated Thursday he probably won’t levy a large fine since Brennan has very few financial assets.
“From what I know about you … you don’t have $250,000,” Johnson said, to which Brennan agreed.
Brennan has been in custody at the Scotts Bluff County Detention Center in Nebraska since his federal arrest. He’ll remain there until his sentencing.
Brennan said he’s been doing “as good as I can,” while in custody, but not as good as he would be doing if he was out of prison.
After Brennan is released from prison, he will face five years to life in supervised probation.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
