Jan Rouven Fuechtener, Child Pornography, Nevada 2024

Former Las Vegas Illusionist Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Child Pornography

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – In a shocking turn of events, former Las Vegas illusionist Jan Rouven Fuechtener was sentenced to 240 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a $500,000 fine for possession, receipt, and distribution of more than 9,000 images and videos of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas A. Trutanich for the District of Nevada and Special Agent in Charge Aaron C. Rouse for the FBI’s Las Vegas Field Office.

Fuechtener, 40, a citizen of Germany, pleaded guilty on Nov. 17, 2016, during his bench trial for the criminal charges. However, he filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea on June 22, 2017. Over the course of a five-day evidentiary hearing, Fuechtener’s former attorneys testified that they had advised him of details of the plea agreement, including potential penalties and consequences of the plea.

At the hearing, Fuechtener personally testified and called a fellow inmate, who is also charged with child pornography offenses, to testify on his behalf. The Court believed the testimony of Fuechtener’s former attorneys and denied the motion to withdraw on June 15, 2018.

In his plea agreement, Fuechtener admitted that he shared numerous child pornography files on GigaTribe, a peer-to-peer file sharing program. During the execution of a search warrant of Fuechtener’s residence, law enforcement found over 9,000 images and videos depicting children engaging in sexually explicit conduct. These files were found on nine devices collected from all over Fuechtener’s home.

Fuechtener further admitted that he used the Skype username “larusa22” to engage in chats to distribute child pornography by sharing his GigaTribe “Lars45” folder in exchange for watching a father sexually assault his daughter, and that he used Grindr to chat with others about coordinating to drug and sexually molest a young boy.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elham Roohani and Lisa Cartier-Giroux prosecuted the case.

Fuechtener will be deported from the United States after serving his sentence, and will be barred from returning for any purpose. This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

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