BANGOR, Maine — An Easton man who in 2010 was hit with 69,000 volts of electricity while working as a linesman for Maine Public Service Co. on Wednesday admitted in federal court that earlier this year he downloaded child pornography.
Zane Wetzel, 31, entered a guilty plea before U.S. District Judge John Woodcock to possession of child pornography, a crime that carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, up to a $250,000 fine or both.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Ruge wrote in the prosecutor’s version of the events that “on about May 14, 2015, the defendant Zane Wetzel possessed images and videos of child pornography depicting actual prepubescent minors who were under the age of 12 years old.”
Investigators found the child porn, some that included men sexually assaulting children, on Wetzel’s computer, with images and videos saved to his hard drive.
“Many of the images and videos were produced outside the United States,” Ruge wrote. “The defendant used peer-to-peer file-sharing networks to download up to hundreds of images at a time. These images included issues of … an online publication based in eastern Europe and dedicated to pornographic images and videos of minor females.”
Wetzel admitted to law enforcement that “he purposefully and repeatedly used the internet to download child pornography to that computer.”
Wetzel originally entered a not guilty plea to the federal charge on Nov. 22. By pleading guilty, he gave up his right to a trial and admitted that the images attached as evidence were in fact found on his computer. Wetzel declined an offer by Woodcock to review the images to ensure they were ones he downloaded.
His sentencing date has not yet been scheduled. He was represented in court by Walter McKee of Augusta.
Wetzel suffered a flash burn to his chest, back, arm and neck after the 2010 electrical accident that left him with third-degree burns over 50 percent of his body. He used special earplugs to listen during parts of the hearing, but otherwise, he did not appear to have any residual signs of the accident that sent him to the hospital for months.
Ruge said he did not offer Wetzel a plea agreement. By changing his plea, Wetzel became subject to a mandatory detention to await sentencing.
As a U.S. Marshal Service representative put handcuffs on him, Wetzel mouthed the words “I love you” to his wife, who was sitting in the gallery crying, surrounded by half a dozen loved ones.