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Child porn jury trial on for March
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DARLINGTON - Timmy Reichling, a Darlington man already sentenced on federal child pornography charges, could face more than 150 years in prison on separate state charges.

Although it's not typical for an offender to face state child porn charges after being sentenced in federal court, Reichling is set to have a jury trial in Lafayette County for multiple charges of child sexploitation and possession of child pornography.

Reichling, 47, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison Aug. 20 for taking illicit video in 2008 of a young girl doing nude exercises.

Reichling had a status conference in Lafayette County Circuit Court Wednesday, and a March 9 jury trial was set. His state charges - which include 11 felonies for child sexploitation, possessing child pornography and being a registered sex offender photographing a minor without consent - could net him 1541â"2 years in prison if Judge James Beer decides to pass down the maximum on all charges for a bifurcated sentence.

If the jury finds him guilty, whether or not Reichling will be sentenced to serve those years consecutively or concurrently to his federal sentence remains up to Beer.

It is typical for state prosecutors to defer to a federal sentence and drop state charges, but Reichling is scheduled to have a five-day jury trial beginning March 9.

Lafayette County District Attorney Kate Findley did not return multiple phone calls to comment on why she is pursuing state charges.

Reichling's former attorney, Frank Medina, suffered a stroke and will likely not return to defend Reichling. Janesville attorney Philip Brehm has taken over the case as it closes in on a jury date.

According to the criminal complaint, shortly after being released from a prison sentence for a prior sex offense in 1993, Reichling began soliciting young girls by email to send him nude pictures. He allegedly gave a camera to one victim so she could send him photos. Between March 2008 and October 2009, Reichling posed as a teen-aged boy on Facebook, seeking nude photos from minor females. Reichling amassed millions of images depicting child pornography that authorities discovered in August 2013. Some of the images were solicited from three underage victims both locally and from as far as Michigan.

Reichling threatened to send the pictures of the young girls to their family and friends unless they sent more to him, according to the criminal complaint.