Springfield, IL  (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – A Petersburg man was sentenced to 60 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release after pleading guilty to multiple crimes again children. Adam Power, 32, pleaded guilty on May 2, to 34 counts including sexual exploitation of a child, distribution of child pornography, receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography.

Power is a former substitute teacher, choir director and theater director in central Illinois. Evidence showed he used at least 13 online accounts on multiple platforms to portray himself as a teenage girl in order to persuade and entice or attempt to persuade and entice at least 24 boys between eight and 16 years of age to produce images of child pornography for him. Power, according to court records, had targeted strangers as well as children he knew or had met.

Power was indicted in July 2023 and pleaded guilty in May 2024. He has remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals since his arrest in June of 2023.