He came over to play dominoes, but wound up making child porn of 4-year-old girl

Aug. 28--EAST ST. LOUIS -- An East St. Louis man who is a registered sex offender was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison after he admitted to producing child pornography.

Andrew Wigfall III, 47, pleaded guilty to the charge against him earlier this year, a news release from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois stated. He was sentenced to prison by Chief U.S. District Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel on Wednesday.

Wigfall's crime first came to light on Jan. 26 when several law enforcement agencies received calls that his Facebook Messenger account was distributing child pornography. Among the illicit photos were Wigfall with a nude 4-year-old girl.

The child's grandmother had seen the pictures and recognized that they had been taken in her basement, according to the release. She told police that Wigfall was a friend who often came over to her house to play dominoes with her husband when they were babysitting their grandchildren.

The grandmother reported that neither she nor her husband had any idea the photographs had been taken, and that they were unaware at the time that Wigfall was a registered sex offender, the release stated.

Wigfall had originally pleaded not guilty to the charges in March, but later changed his plea.

When Wigfall was interviewed by police, he admitted to taking explicit photos of the girl with his cell phone a few weeks earlier. He told investigators he had lost his phone on Jan. 25 and was not the person who was distributing the photos through Facebook Messenger. Law enforcement officials said they never found the phone.

At the sentencing hearing, the girl's grandmother expressed outrage on behalf of the family, saying, "I never thought this would happen to us. I'm supposed to protect my children and grandchildren. But my trust was betrayed ... [Wigfall] wasn't there to be my husband's friend. He was there to seek out my granddaughter."

The woman added that her husband feels "like it's all his fault" and that he constantly "apologizes to me that he let this man into our home."

Rosenstengel said the 30-year sentence was necessary to protect the public, specifically citing Wigfall's history of sexual offenses. Wigfall had a prior conviction in St. Clair County for aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

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