FORMER ALASKA CHURCH ELDER PLEADS GUILTY TO POSSESSING CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE MATERIAL

KETCHIKAN, ALASKA — Dwight Chris John, 74, a former church elder in Ketchikan, has pleaded guilty in federal court to possessing child sexual abuse material depicting a minor under the age of 12, closing another major stage in a case involving conduct in both Alaska and Mexico.

John pleaded guilty to possessing child sexual abuse material depicting a minor under the age of 12. According to court documents, investigators also recovered more than 1,000 additional images depicting prepubescent minors, including infants and toddlers.

The Department of Justice confirmed that John was already serving a sentence in an Alaska state prison for sexually abusing a minor when the federal investigation began.

The case began in May 2024 when John’s relatives contacted the Ketchikan Police Department after discovering a USB drive they believed contained child sexual abuse material.

A law enforcement officer reviewed the contents and found numerous sexually explicit photographs of a young girl known to John through an institution located in Mexico.

Investigators then searched John’s cell phones and laptop computer.

According to court records, authorities recovered dozens of sexually explicit photographs involving the same minor victim and more than 1,000 additional images of child sexual abuse material involving prepubescent children.

John also admitted to producing sexually explicit photographs of the minor victim during trips to Mexico in 2018 and 2019.

The investigation uncovered conduct involving direct sexual exploitation of a child abroad as well as the possession of a substantial collection of abusive imagery discovered on John’s electronic devices.

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said John repeatedly exploited a vulnerable child in Mexico and participated in the online exploitation of children while in Alaska.

The guilty plea, Duva said, represents another step toward accountability for the children harmed by the conduct.

FBI Anchorage Special Agent in Charge Matthew Schlegel described John as posing a serious threat to children both inside and outside the United States and said protecting children remains one of the bureau’s highest priorities.

The case was charged in late 2025 as part of Operation Relentless Justice, a nationwide Department of Justice enforcement initiative focused on identifying, tracking, and arresting individuals involved in child sexual exploitation.

Operation Relentless Justice was carried out across all 56 FBI field offices along with the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices across the country.

The two-week nationwide operation resulted in over 293 arrests and more than 205 child victims being located.

John’s case was among those brought forward through that broader enforcement effort.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI Anchorage Field Office’s Juneau Resident Agency with assistance from the Ketchikan Police Department as part of the FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force.

That partnership placed local and federal investigators into the same case structure, allowing evidence discovered in Ketchikan to develop into a federal prosecution involving conduct that crossed international boundaries.

The case also falls under Project Safe Childhood, the Department of Justice initiative launched in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Project Safe Childhood brings together U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, federal investigators, state and local law enforcement, and other partners to identify offenders, prosecute cases, and locate and assist victims.

The prosecution of John illustrates why these investigations often depend on evidence discovered outside traditional law enforcement operations.

In this case, the federal investigation began after family members found the USB drive and reported it to police.

That discovery led investigators to additional devices, a larger collection of abusive material, and evidence connected to a child victim outside the United States.

Digital evidence can preserve material for years and can expose conduct that occurred far from where the device is eventually found.

Computers, phones, removable drives, cloud accounts, messaging platforms, and stored photographs can provide investigators with evidence connecting separate incidents, locations, and victims.

The John investigation crossed those lines.

The original discovery took place in Alaska.

The admitted production of sexually explicit images occurred during trips to Mexico.

The resulting federal case brought those pieces together into a single prosecution.

John is scheduled to be sentenced on December 16, 2026.

He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a maximum sentence of 15 years.

The final sentence will be determined by a federal district court judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Trial Attorney Rachel L. Rothberg of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Schmidt for the District of Alaska are prosecuting the case.

John’s guilty plea establishes criminal responsibility for the federal possession charge and adds to a record that already included a state prison sentence involving sexual abuse of a minor.

The case also reinforces the role that family members, local police, federal investigators, international evidence, and digital forensics can play in exposing abuse that may otherwise remain hidden for years.

For investigators, the discovery of a single USB drive ultimately opened the door to evidence involving more than 1,000 abusive images, multiple electronic devices, and the exploitation of a child outside the United States.

For the victims, the guilty plea moves the case closer to sentencing while formally establishing John’s responsibility for the federal possession offense.

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