Broken Bow man sentenced to 87 months on child porn charges

BROKEN BOW, Neb. -- A 39-year-old Broken Bow man was sentenced to just over seven years for child pornography charges. 

On Mar. 6, Lucas Wacker was sentenced for receiving and distributing child porn. 

Wacker was sentenced to 87 months in prison. He has also been ordered to pay $3,000 to a fund established for child victims. 

After Wacker is released, he will start a five-year term of supervised release and will be required to register as a sex offender. There is no parole in the federal system. 

In April 2024, an investigator with the Nebraska State Patrol downloaded two files directly from a suspect IP address during a peer-to-peer undercover operation. 

They served a subpoena for the IP address which came back to Wacker. The files that were received from the address included a known about child porn file. 

In May 2024, law enforcement executed a search warrant of Wacker's home in Broken Bow. While looking through Wacker's phone, investigators found several child porn video files, including one of the ones from the peer-to-peer investigation. 

Authorities said that the search history indicated child porn content had also been found on the program. 

In an interview during the search, Wacker admitted to viewing and collecting child porn. He also admitted to downloading the content. He told investigators the specific application and search terms he would use. 

Investigators found 12 video files and 361 image files of child porn on Wacker's phone.