Rapid City Man Arrested for Child Porn

(Pierre) – Jerry Lee Wager, 38, of Rapid City, was arrested yesterday on 12 counts of possession of child pornography. Wager is currently out on bond and will appear in court on October 7, in Rapid City.

Wager’s arrest is the seventh arrest in South Dakota stemming from Operation Avalanche. Operation Avalanche was an investigation of a Texas based website that sold child pornography. Texas officials investigated the website’s sales records and turned over the names of subscribers to their home states. 

Other arrests that came out of the Operation Avalanche investigation include: Mathew Lee Mierkey, Sioux Falls; John Mathew Peterson, Watertown; David Loren Wagner, Webster; James Robert Jackson, Rapid City; John Byron Martin, Belle Fourche; and Charles P. Korstjens, Big Stone City.  

Mierkey was the first South Dakota man arrested out of the Operation Avalanche investigation. In August, Mierkey pled guilty to 30 counts of possession of child pornography. He will be sentenced tomorrow at 1:30pm in the Minnehaha County Courthouse.

The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation made Wager’s arrest. The South Dakota Attorney General’s Office will prosecute the case.

-30-