MONROE — More than a year after he was arrested for the alleged 2024 crimes, an accused child predator from the region is back in court, facing potentially decades in prison for possession of child pornography and child exploitation if a Green County jury finds him guilty.

The offenses — some involving videos of prepubescent victims — occurred from September 1, 2024 and November 1, 2024, in Monroe, according to the criminal complaint filed against the defendant in Green County Circuit Court.

Police arrested 53-year-old Shane Rogers, who was then charged with felony possession of child pornography (lifetime supervision of sex offenders), and two counts of sexual exploitation of child — distribution pornography (lifetime supervision of sex offenders).

The arrest on August 1, 2025, stemmed from local police follow-up on a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to court records. As a result, he is accused of downloading and transmitting pornographic images of very young children on popular social media and messaging apps.

The national tip eventually led to a search warrant of electronic devices allegedly owned by Rogers — including two Samsung smartphones, said the complaint.

Rogers remains in custody, according a jail officer. After a pretrial hearing set for Friday, September 18, his next scheduled court date is a final pre-trial hearing set for 8:30 a.m. October 12, also before Bucher.

If found guilty at trial, the maximum possible penalty for possession of child pornography is 25 years. The maximum possible sentence for sexual exploitation of a child is 40 years in state prison, plus thousands in fines and lifetime registration as a sex offender.

Bond for Rogers was set at $25,000 during his most recent court appearance on June 15 before Circuit Judge Jane Bucher. On March 5, Bucher denied a request to have the defendant’s bond reduced, records indicate.

He stood mute after waiving his preliminary hearing on the charges August 15; and not guilty pleas were entered on his behalf.

In recent years, numerous local investigations into internet child porn activities have resulted in arrests and felony charges. Many easily accessible apps and websites touted as anonymous or encrypted, are not and such sites often are actively monitored by law enforcement and anti-exploitation groups, such as the NCMEC, with investigators even posing as potential victims to ensnare child predators.