Indictment adds more counts against Wetterling case figure
Updated: 5:45 p.m. | Posted: 3:18 p.m.
A federal grand jury has added more child pornography charges against a man authorities have called a person of interest in the 1989 abduction of Jacob Wetterling, according to a 25-count indictment unsealed Wednesday.
A 25-court indictment against Danny James Heinrich, 52, of Annadale, was unsealed Wednesday. It lists 17 counts of possessing child pornography and eight of receiving it. The document supersedes a five-count criminal complaint filed in October when Heinrich was arrested.
Under court rules, prosecutors needed to replace the initial complaint with an indictment to go to trial. The indictment says authorities found the suspected child porn in numerous three-ring binders located throughout his home during a search in July, and recovered additional images from the hard drive on his computer.
It makes no mention of the Wetterling case. Heinrich has denied any involvement in the disappearance of Wetterling, who was 11 when he was kidnapped in 1989 near his home in St. Joseph. Authorities have stopped short of calling Heinrich a suspect and have not charged him in that case. But investigators found the images that led to the child porn charges while investigating the Wetterling case.
The federal defender's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Heinrich's behalf.
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