CASPER — A 26-year-old Evansville man already on parole for sexually abusing a teen girl pleaded guilty Friday in Natrona County District Court 16 child pornography-related charges. The agreement will send him to prison for the next 45 to 100 years.
Jacob Andrew Dudley pleaded guilty in Judge Joshua Eames’ courtroom to 16 counts of child exploitation of children with seven of those counts related to receiving or distributing child pornography.
Those seven counts each carry a minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum of 12 years.
As part of the deal, six charges he had been facing will be dropped.
Natrona County District Attorney Chief Deputy Blaine Nelson handed Eames a document that outlined the terms of the plea deal. Eames then described it for Dudley, who stood in an orange jail jumpsuit and chains next to his attorney Steve Mink.
Under the terms of the deal, five counts of sexual exploitation of children related to child pornography, obtained from Dec. 1, 2024, through Sept. 18, 2025, were grouped together, and he would receive five-to-eight-year sentences for each one.
All the five charges would be served concurrently.
A second group of four sexual exploitation of children charges for material also obtained during the same time frame were lumped together. Dudley would receive a five-to-eight-year sentence on those as well.
The second group of charges would be served concurrently to one another but not to the first group.
A third group of seven sexual exploitation of children charges involving receiving or distributing the files during the same time period would receive sentences of five to 12 years and would be consecutive to one another as well as consecutive to the two other groups of charges.
Nelson told the judge that the sentence in the case also would be in addition to any additional years imposed on a previous case that Dudley had been on parole for at the time of his latest crimes.
Previous Conviction
Dudley was convicted of second-degree sexual abuse, third-degree sexual abuse and two counts of delivery of THC for incidents in January 2021. Those involved the sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl.
He was sentenced to four to 10 years in prison on Jan. 13, 2022, court records show. He was placed on parole in December 2024.
Dudley told the judge he understood the terms of the agreement and the maximum penalties.
Eames asked him how he pleaded to the charges.
“Guilty,” Dudley said.
Dudley told the judge that he had “child pornography on my two phones.”
The judge asked him if the material on the phones “qualified as child pornography” under Wyoming statutes.
“Yes, sir,” Dudley replied.
He told the judge that he “received” child pornography files, making him guilty of the seven charges that carried the minimum five-year sentence.
No Bond
The judge also noted that Dudley was on a “parole hold” for his other case and told the attorneys he would have him held without bond. Dudley had been under a $2 million cash bond in the case.
Eames told Dudley that he would be sentenced in the next two to four months.
Charges against Dudley initially stem from a tip given to the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation on Feb. 20, 2025, from the messaging application Kik.
Seven files of apparent child pornography had been downloaded, according to investigators.
That was followed by a second tip on June 24, 2025, and additional tips on July 24, July 25, Aug. 29 and Sept. 1, all reporting suspected images of child pornography.
A DCI investigation confirmed the images related to the tips showed child pornography including images of adult on child abuse and children’s sexual anatomy.
When a DCI investigator reviewed data for one of the Kik accounts and usernames on Sept. 8, he found a content folder that contained 239 images and videos.
“Every image and video was explicitly sexual and pornographic in nature,” the affidavit states.
The DCI agent also found “numerous chats/messages” related to the possession of child pornography as well as the sexual assault and abuse.
The affidavit says the content of the messages “appeared to identify Jacob Dudley as the account holder due to numerous messages discussing the alleged sexual abuse” of a victim.
‘Heinous’ Messages
“Due to the heinous and grotesque nature of the messages, the content is not documented in this affidavit,” the DCI agent wrote.
When interviewed, Dudley admitted to the DCI investigator that he opened three to four Kik accounts during the year he’d been out of prison and had received about 100 to 300 files of child pornography during that time.
The affidavit states he was “sharing the files” to get other pornography.
“I don’t go out and seek, like, look at little girls, you know; but I guess on a phone, pictures, and stuff, I would save them and share 'em,” he told the DCI agent, according to the affidavit.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
