Suspect in child sex abuse, pornography case to spend up to 21 years in prison
NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) (Dec. 12, 2022) – The 31-year-old who admitted to creating and sharing explicit images of a toddler he abused a toddler will be pushing 50 before he gets out of prison.
Shane Skelly of New Philadelphia has been ordered to spend 17 and a half to 21 years behind bars on a grand jury indictment charging him with seven felonies including gross sexual imposition, endangering children, and pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor. Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Ernest imposed the sentence this morning after hearing from the prosecution, Skelly’s attorneys, and the child’s mother.
“He deserves justice along with those other kids that you had videos of. None of them deserved this. No child deserves to be sexually abused or exploited. Find God while you’re in there because you’re never going to find forgiveness anywhere else. I hate you more than anything on this Earth. I hope you are in there for the maximum sentence allowed.”
Ernest said Skelly was in a position of trust and had a duty to care for the victim but did the exact opposite.
“You exploited a little boy. You didn’t just touch a little boy for your own gratification. You took it to the next step in the transmission of it. You documented it and then sent it on its way to someone else.”
Skelly got 171 days deducted from his sentence for the time he spent in the county jail. He will be on parole for five years following his release from prison and will have to register for the rest of his life as a Tier 3 sex offender.