An Appleton man originally arrested on a Florida warrant pleaded no contest April 20 to failing to update information on the sex offender registry.
Alec Rowley, 30, was charged Feb. 26 with failing to update information as a registered sex offender. Rowley was placed on the sex offender registry for life after a possession of child pornography conviction in 2020, according to a criminal complaint.
Rowley violated his requirements as a registered sex offender by not reporting social media accounts he had to the Department of Corrections, the complaint said.
Rowley was arrested by Appleton police Feb. 13 after investigators from Polk County, Florida, alerted the police department to an arrest warrant for Rowley for 100 counts of “direct/promote sexual performance by a child,” the complaint said.
The Polk County investigators said they had identified Rowley as the user of a Telegram account that sold an undercover officer child sexual abuse material, the complaint said. The account sent the officer 250 files, 64 of which were determined to be depicting children, between ages 2 and 12, engaged in sexual conduct, the complaint said.
When confronted by Appleton police about the allegations, Rowley admitted to having a Telegram account, having child sexual abuse material on his laptop and trading child sexual abuse material, but denied ever selling child sexual abuse material or knowing anything about the files sent to the undercover officer, the complaint said.
The Appleton investigator interviewing Rowley believed he was not the person who sent the files to the undercover officer. The officer believed Rowley created the Mega link the officer received and sent it to several people while trading child sexual abuse material, but that another person was using that link to make money, the complaint said.
The investigator spoke to Polk County deputies again after the interview and was told the sheriff’s office had determined the account selling the child sexual abuse material had an IP address in Africa, the complaint said. The Polk County investigator said he was “not confident” Rowley was involved with the sale.
Rowley has not been charged in Polk County as of April 21, court records show.
As part of their investigation, Appleton police asked the state for any social media or email accounts Rowley had reported to the sex offender registry, but were told none had been reported, the complaint said. Rowley told police he had two email addresses and multiple social media accounts.
Rowley is scheduled to return to court June 19 for sentencing. He faces up to three years in prison.
Vivian Barrett is the public safety reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. You can reach her at vmbarrett@usatodayco.com or (920) 431-8314.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Appleton man pleads to violating sex offender registry
Reporting by Vivian Barrett, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Appleton Post-Crescent
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