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Reichling pleads guilty to possessing child porn
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DARLINGTON - A Darlington man will not go to trial after he pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges that he sexually exploited underage girls.

Timmy Reichling, 49, pleaded guilty to two Class D felony counts of possessing child pornography at what was to be his final pre-trial conference before a trial that was to take place next week.

Nine other charges, ranging from child sexual exploitation to photographing a minor without consent while being a registered sex offender, were dismissed but read into the record.

Reichling is currently serving a 25-year sentence in federal prison for producing child pornography. The federal charges and the Lafayette County charges stem from the same incidents.

In 2008, shortly after being released from an eight-year prison sentence for an unrelated sexual assault conviction, Reichling coerced teenage girls to send him nude photos and videos by posing as a teenage boy on Facebook. When the girls wanted to stop, Reichling threatened to release the images to the victims' families.

Reichling also made a sexually explicit video of a teenager by hiding a video camera in a bathroom.

In August 2013, authorities discovered Reichling's collection of child pornography after searching his parents' residence where he was living. The collection reportedly contained several million images stored on hard drives, some of which he produced.

Reichling's sentencing hearing will take place Aug. 24. Any sentence he incurs will not run consecutive to his federal sentence.

Reichling's two remaining charges carry a maximum possible sentence of 30 years in prison.