Wayland man admits he sent child porn

A Wayland man admitted to sending child pornography from his phone to a coworker.

Frank Dean Simmons, 51, was in Allegan County Circuit Court Monday, Aug. 6, and entered a guilty plea to one count of child sexually abusive activity.

“I sent back and forth through a co-worker some child pornography,” Simmons said.

The crime happened March 6 in Wayland

He admitted he’d downloaded the pictures from an app at his home and then sent it to another person who was at Simmons’ workplace. He was arrested in April by  police from Allegan County Sheriff’s Office. The pictures, he told the court, were sexually explicit and of children under 18.

Allegan County assistant prosecutor Steven Lanting asked to clarify the ages of the children depicted.

“He told the sheriff’s office the girls were as young as five- to seven-years-old,” Lanting said.

Simmons acknowledged that was true.

As part of a plea agreement with Allegan County prosecutors, Simmons will have one count of possession of child sexually abusive material and two counts of using a computer to commit a crime dropped in exchange for his guilty plea. Prosecutors also agreed to recommend a sentence at the lower end of the guidelines. Simmons will have to register as a tier II sex offender under the Michigan Sex Offender Registry.

Judge Margaret Zuzich Bakker accepted Simmon’s guilty plea and set the case for sentencing

Contact Dan Pepper at dpepper@allegannews.com or at (269) 673-5534.