A former Delaware County sheriff has accepted a plea agreement from federal prosecutors and will plead guilty to a child pornography charge next week.
Mark W. Wolfe, 50, of 11720 Kilbourne Road, Sunbury, will plead guilty to one charge of distribution of child pornography, according to officials from the Southern District Court of Ohio.
Court documents report Wolfe could be sentenced to a minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years in prison at a hearing on March 10.
Wolfe was originally charged with three child pornography charges. The remaining two charges will be dismissed as part of the agreement.
Wolfe was still in federal custody Friday.
Wolfe surrendered himself to U.S. marshals in Columbus on Aug. 10, 2015.
Wolfe was Delaware County’s interim sheriff for five days in 2007 before the Republican Party central committee appointed Walter Davis as sheriff.
Court documents allege that between Sept. 1, 2010, and July 28, 2015, Wolfe received and distributed videos and pictures of minors engaged in sexually explicit activity.
Undercover agents from the FBI were conducting an investigation into online child pornography and on June 5, 2015, downloaded several pornographic videos involving children from Wolfe’s IP address in Sunbury.
Investigators executed a search warrant of Wolfe’s home on July 31, 2015, and seized a laptop computer owned by Wolfe. Investigators say a preliminary examination of the laptop yielded 486 videos and 203 images of child pornography. Investigators say the youngest of the children being sexually abused was 8 months old.
Analysis of the laptop also revealed chat messages between Wolfe and several others between September 2014 and June 2015. Investigators say pornographic files were transferred during the chats.
Court documents also indicate that a laptop computer, a desktop computer and an external hard drive were seized and are being held as evidence by the government.
Officials say that Wolfe served as a deputy in the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office from August 1994 to September 1997 and has had no association with the sheriff’s office since his stint as sheriff in 2007. Wolfe ran unsuccessfully for sheriff in Delaware County in 2000 and 2004.
Wolfe has reportedly worked for various law enforcement agencies throughout central Ohio. The Associated Press reported he had been police chief in Edison in Morrow County. Wolfe is currently the founder and president of AREA Security & Consulting.
