A former Ketchikan church leader has pleaded guilty to possessing child sexual abuse material. 74-year-old Dwight “Chris” John, possessed sexually explicit photos of a young child from Mexico. John is already serving a 20 year prison sentence for sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree for crimes that happened in Alaska.
John was an elder member of the Clover Pass Community Church.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, John’s relatives contacted the Ketchikan Police Department in 2024 when they found a USB drive containing child sexual abuse material. Law enforcement officers searched the drive and John’s laptop and found dozens of pictures of a young victim he knew through an institution in Mexico.
John admitted to taking photos of the young girl during trips to Mexico in 2018 and 2019.
Officers additionally found over a thousand sexually explicit photos of minors, including of infants and toddlers.
Less than three years into his current sentence, John faces a minimum penalty in the new federal case of 10 years for the possession of child sexual abuse material. The sentencing is scheduled for Dec.16.
