Moore takes plea agreement on federal child pornography charges

Richard L. Moore, 66, of Wallace will plead guilty to one felony count of production of child pornography as part of a plea agreement on federal charges. 

Moore also agreed to forfeit eight computers, nearly 40 hard drives, more than 60 removable storage cards and other related items in exchange for dropping two other felony child pornography charges. 

Those included a second count of production of child pornography and possession of child pornography. 

Moore will be sentenced in U.S. District Court in Lincoln on Sept. 17. 

 The maximum sentence on the charge is 30 years in prison and up to a fine of $250,000.

There is no parole from the federal prison system. 

This plea agreement comes on the heels of a plea agreement in Lincoln County District Court this spring. 

There, he pled guilty to two felony charges—first-degree sexual assault of a child and third-degree sexual assault of a child. 

He was sentenced to 25 to 35 years on the first-degree charge and another three years for the third-degree charge. 

Six other charges for sexual assault of a child and child abuse with no injury were dropped as part of that plea agreement. 

The state and federal charges stem from assaults that reportedly occurred at Sutherland Reservoir on multiple occasions in the summer of 2019 and involved two victims.

Moore was arrested on October 21, 2019 on a warrant, and has been in jail with no bond since that time. Some of his charges were dismissed in a plea agreement. 

In 2019, Lincoln County and Perkins County sheriff’s offices searched Moore’s rural residence and removed two covered trailers full of suspected evidence, including video and computer equipment and recorded pornography.