Cape County man arrested for alleged sexual exploitation of minor, possession of child pornography

A Cape Girardeau County man was booked into the Cape Girardeau County jail Sunday, Sept. 8 for allegedly sexually exploiting a minor and possessing child pornography.

The Cape Girardeau Police Department had received reports of an alleged incident with Thaddeus Schwepker, 52, and a minor dating back to around Aug. 5, 2019.

According to a probable-cause statement, police were told Sunday, March 31, that Schwepker had allegedly confessed to videorecording a juvenile.

The probable cause stated that when the juvenile was 12 or 13 years old, they had fallen asleep while taking a bath when Schwepker allegedly had taken a video of them. Officers were advised that the video had been taken around Aug. 5, 2019.

"During the video, Thaddeus (Schwepker) zoomed in on [redacted] face and genitals. [Redacted] informed officers that the video was stored somewhere on a virtual server but could not provide anything further. [Redacted] stated that [redacted] did not immediately report this because [redacted] wanted [redacted] to make a decision to come forth about it," the probable cause stated.

According to the probable cause, the officer was able to view the video April 2, which was sent to the email of a person whose name was redacted. The probable cause stated the video showed a shower curtain being opened while the victim was lying nude on their back, the video then zoomed in on the victim's genitals. After that, the shower curtain was closed and the video lasted for "approximately 30 seconds."

According to a forensic interview done June 5, outlined in the probable-cause statement, an interviewee believed it was summer at the time when the video was shot, was asleep when the video was recorded and did not know about it until after it happened. Because of the many redactions in the probable-cause statement, it is unclear who was speaking in the interview, but it was stated that Schwepker does not live with one of the people now, since the allegations "came to light again."

In the interview, the person also stated Schwepker allegedly had multiple cellphones, so they don't know whether the video is still on his phone.

At the time the probable-cause statement was writter, the police hadn't heard anything from Schwepker after attempting to speak with him several times to seize his phone. However, according to the case's docket history, Schwepker's warrant for arrest was out Sunday, Sept. 8.

Schwepker is being held on a $50,000 bond.