A former Republican county official in South Dakota has pleaded no contest to charges of possessing illegal images of children.
According to KELO, way back in 2022, Rocky Hayes came under suspicion when "authorities searched his Lincoln County home after receiving a cyber tip that he possessed an illegal video of a child being raped. According to the Secretary of State’s office, Hayes used to run at least three businesses out of his home. But since the original charges were filed, the internet appears to have been scrubbed of information and photos of Hayes. When DCI agents searched Hayes’s home office, court documents say they found two more illegal videos."
Hayes, who reportedly lived across the street from an elementary school, was formerly the chair of the Jones County Republican Party, according to Dakota Broadcasting.
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"Hayes originally pleaded not guilty to 5 counts of child pornography, but today he returned to the Lincoln County Courthouse to change that plea," reported KELO. "Hayes pleaded no contest to one count of child pornography, meaning he didn’t admit guilt but accepts the conviction. The prosecution dropped the other charges."
Hayes could face up to 10 years in prison and a maximum $20,000 fine.
Republican and Trump-aligned officials have found themselves in hot water for similar allegations in the past.
Earlier this year, former Hays County, Texas GOP precinct chair Bo Michael Dermer was sentenced to four centuries in prison for counts including child sexual abuse and over 60 counts of child pornography with the intent to promote. Meanwhile, Robert Morris, a North Texas megachurch pastor who served on a spiritual advisory board for the Trump administration, was forced this month to resign from his congregation over news that what he had described as a youthful extramarital affair was in fact sexual abuse of a teenage girl.