BRUNSWICK COUNTY — Brunswick County Superior Court Judge Jason Disbrow sentenced Justin Gene Thaden to a minimum sentence of 43 years in prison.
Thaden, 37, pled guilty to 44 counts of possessing child sexual exploitation imagery, 12 counts of indecent liberties with a child, and three counts of attempted sexual offense of a child by an adult offender.
He was first arrested in November 2019. The Brunswick County District Attorney’s Office presented evidence before Disbrow Friday morning that Thaden had sexuall abused four minor children between the ages of eight and nine in the Leland area. Leland Police Department Detectives Ed Hutt and James Almond seized Thaden’s cell phone, which contained multiple images of children between the ages of two and nine being sexually exploited.
Disbrow ordered Thaden to register as a sex offender for 30 years upon his release, according to a press release from the District Attorney’s Office.
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