Convicted Sex Offender Denies Creating Child Pornography in Laramie

A former foster parent sentenced in Converse County to 30-50 years for sex crimes against children previously in his care pleaded not guilty Friday to a charge of creating child pornography in Laramie.

Stephen James Calderon, 32,, pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of children. If convicted, he could face another 5-12 years in prison and pay a $10,000 fine.

Seperately, Calderon is charged with 11 counts of sexual assault of a minor in the first degree. He pleaded not guilty to those charges in early March. Judge Jeffrey Donnell ordered the two Albany County cases combined and trial, which was originally scheduled for July 7, reset for July 6-8.

According to an affidavit from a member of the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, the agent received three tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on August 25, 2014 regarding several files depicting child pornography uploaded to Microsoft Skydrive. The affidavit says the IP address and email address associated with the upload were tied to Calderon.

Agents with DCI's Computer Crime Team Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force applied for and executed a search warrant at Calderon's apartment in Douglas Aug. 29, and Calderon reportedly admitted to having sexual contact with a minor child as well as photographing the sexual acts.

According to his affidavit, the DCI agent executed search warrants on Calderon's Microsoft, Google and Dropbox accounts. Data provided by Dropbox reportedly revealed child pornography.

The DCI agent used GPS coordinates contained in the files' Exchangeable Image File Format data to conclude the pictures were taken near Calderon's previous address in Laramie.

Calderon remains incarcerated on $50,000 bond, which Donnell described Friday as "rather academic, given Mr. Calderon's problems in Converse County."

Calderon admitted in Converse County District Court to sexually abusing three foster children in his care from Jan. 2013 to June 2014 in Laramie. He pleaded guilty Oct. 15 to four counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree.

Judge John C. Brooks sentenced Calderon Jan. 21 to 30-50 years in prison followed by 45-50 years on probation and ordered him to pay nearly $3,907 in restitution.