A former Las Vegas illusion show headliner from Germany appeared to faint Thursday while being sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined more than $500,000 in a federal child pornography case.
Jan Rouven Fuechtener, 40, stiffened and fell backward over his chair after Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro rejected his apology and his attempt to say he derived no gratification from thousands of pornographic videos and images the FBI found in password-protected files on nine computers at a home dubbed the “fun house.”
The judge branded Fuechtener a shameless liar and manipulator who dragged out his court proceedings “like a soap opera” and only regretted he got caught. She ordered Fuechtener to pay an additional $70,000 in restitution to victims identified in the videos.
The house was sold in 2016 and Fuechtener deposited money in a trust account for fines and restitution.
Fuechtener stopped his trial before videos were aired publicly by pleading guilty in November 2016 to possession, receipt and distribution of child pornography.
He then spent years changing lawyers and trying to undo his plea, arguing that his trial attorneys misled him about his sentence.