Wyoming Man Caught in Child Sex Sting Video… | Cowboy State Daily

A Hudson, Wyoming, Man opposite a crime Defendant after becoming the subject of a YouTube video depicting vigilantism and sex crimes in Lander pleaded not guilty Thursday to attempted third-degree sexual abuse of a minor.

Sean Brennan, 57, appeared for his arraignment in Fremont County District Court in Lander. He wore an orange jumpsuit and shackles and had his gray hair pulled back into a low ponytail. He sat next to his public defender, Valerie Schoneberger, and briefly said “not guilty” when Judge Jason Conder asked him to enter his plea.

Conder noted that the charge is punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if Brennan is convicted.

The judge then set Brennan’s trial date for March 17.

As the arraignment ended, Fremont County sheriff’s deputies escorted Brennan down the front steps of the courthouse and into a jail van as rain clouds gathered overhead.

Ped patrol

Brennan became a topic of a September 7 YouTube video by Tommy Fellows of Colorado Ped Patrol.

Fellows organizes a campaign in which adults pose as underage girls or boys on Internet messaging sites to identify suspected predators who may target them, exchange explicit text messages or photos, or offer to meet them for sex.

A sexual exchange between Brennan and a person posing as a 13-year-old girl led Fellows from his base in Colorado to Lander to confront Brennan at work. according to Fellows’ video this confrontation.

Fellows invited Brennan to visit the logo shop where Brennan was employed at the time. Fellows showed the man a folder that he said was a transcript of the sexual conversations between Brennan and the decoy “girls.”

“Are you going to have sex with them?” Fellows asked after the two men walked outside together.

“No,” Brennan said, shaking her head. “I informed them immediately.”

“So you would never broadcast, How, “Inappropriate pictures or something like that?” asked Fellows.

“No,” Brennan said.

“So your cell phone doesn’t have any child pornography or anything like that?” Fellows asked.

Brennan said “No” again.

Fellows said he could prove otherwise and asked if the police should come check. Then he started leafing through the folder.

“I have three of these books, right? Three different kids,” said Fellows, who also recounted a conversation in which Brennan allegedly told the decoy that he had had a 16-year-old girlfriend.

Brennan said the 16-year-old was emancipated and that he didn’t sleep with her anyway, but made the claim on the internet.

“Do you often beg minors for nude photos?” Fellows asked in the video. “You said, ‘Send me a picture,’ and got mad, then you said, ‘Listen, little girl, remember, I’m not mad, but don’t ever ask me for a picture again.'”

The Fellows then accused Brennan of teaching one of the “girls” lewd acts and making sexual plans with her and sending her sexual images.

Brennan said In the video, he didn’t want to go to Colorado and actually do the things he discussed with the decoy.

cans

Fellows also confronted Brennan about being convicted of a child pornography crime about 25 years ago while living in Arizona. Both men noted that Brennan would have to register as a sex offender for the crime.

But Brennan claimed in the video that he was no longer required to register as a sex offender after moving to Wyoming, and said Wyoming authorities told him that his child pornography conviction in Arizona was “crap” by their standards.

Brennan said he was convicted after using a public library computer to research which nude beach he should visit with his then-girlfriend, and some of the websites happened to contain images of underage girls.

Brennan’s boss came outside and demanded to know what was going on, and when Fellows told him, the boss spoke up — disgusted — Brennan immediately fired.

In the video, Fellows appeared impressed by the boss’s reaction to the news.

“If you know this area or are in this area, be sure to stop by and support this local business,” Fellows said in the video. “What a great owner.”

Lander police on scene

In the video, Lander Police Department Officer David Milovich responded to the store, warned Fellows that his license plates were expired and noted that he had worked with Fellows during a previous police operation in Colorado.

Milovich began looking through the folder. He lamented that “Wyoming is far behind Colorado in the strength of its sex crimes laws” and said that, at first glance, he did not see enough evidence to arrest Fellows for an alleged crime locally.

Milovich later gathered enough evidence to establish probable cause for the third-degree sex charge and arranged for Brennan’s arrest within hours of the encounter.

Clair McFarland available at [email protected].