By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A 33-year-old Chehalis man was sentenced in federal court for production of child pornography, getting more than 20 years and then supervised release for the rest of his life.
Brandon K. Phelps was arrested in January 2015 following an investigation that began months earlier with a cyber-tip concerning his online exchange of child porn with others, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
At the hearing late yesterday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Judge Benjamin H. Settle imposed a 228-month sentence on top of an 18-month sentence Phelps has already served in state custody, saying, “Deterrence is very important … word must be out there for others like you that, if you engage in these crimes (child sex offenses), you will receive very long sentences,” according to a press release from prosecutors.
According to records filed in the case, during 2014 Phelps babysat three children, one of whom was a 9-year-old girl he forced to engage in sexually explicit conduct and made photos with his phone.
He made additional sexually explicit photos of another young girl while she slept, according to the press release.
Phelps was sentenced in February of this year in Lewis County Superior Court for a 2009 incident of child molestation and for raping his adult girlfriend while she was incapacitated, according to U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesperson Emily Langlie.
He was already serving more than 15 years for those cases, and his time will be served at the same time as the sentence handed down yesterday, according to Langlie.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Grady Leupold in coordination with the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
“Phelps was sentenced in February of this year in Lewis County Superior Court for a 2009 incident of child molestation and for raping his adult girlfriend while she was incapacitated, according to U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesperson Emily Langlie.”
That sentence just jumped out at me. It took almost EIGHT YEARS to sentence this guy for what he did in 2009? What’s the backstory on that?
As if raping an elementary age child isn’t heinous and traumatizing enough – he manages to descend to an even more subterranean level of evil by turning the despicable act into a commodity.
I notice he shares a surname with the other Phelps. Related, or just coincidence?
Sick this guy was allowed to hurt more little kids. Casterate him. Lock him in the chokey!