Former Ketchikan church elder pleads guilty to federal child sexual abuse material charge

A former Ketchikan church elder pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to possessing child sexual abuse material depicting a child under 12. He faces a minimum of 10 years in federal prison.

Dwight Chris John, 74, was already serving a sentence in an Alaska state prison for sexually abusing a minor when the federal investigation began.

It began with a USB drive. In May 2024, John's relatives found the drive, believed it held child sexual abuse material and contacted the Ketchikan Police Department, according to court documents. An officer reviewed the images and found sexually explicit photographs of a young girl John knew through an institution in Mexico.

Investigators later searched his cell phones and laptop computer. They found dozens of explicit photos of the same child. They also found more than 1,000 images of child sexual abuse material depicting prepubescent minors, including infants and toddlers. John admitted producing the photographs of the victim during trips to Mexico in 2018 and 2019.

"Dwight Chris John repeatedly exploited a vulnerable child in Mexico and engaged in the exploitation of children online in Alaska," said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. "We will hold U.S. citizens accountable wherever they exploit children."

He was a local church leader when Alaska prosecutors charged him. The Alaska Department of Law announced in December 2023 that he was sentenced in Superior Court to 50 years with 30 years suspended, leaving 20 years to serve, for sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree based on conduct between April 2017 and April 2022. As part of that plea agreement, John admitted his conduct was among the most serious contemplated under the statute and that he had engaged in similar, repeated behavior with the same victim.

The December 2025 indictment charged two counts, sexually exploiting a child outside the U.S. and possession. Monday's plea is to the possession count. They came through Operation Relentless Justice, a coordinated effort to identify and arrest child sex predators. The FBI Anchorage Field Office, Juneau Resident Agency investigated with assistance from Ketchikan police. Special Agent in Charge Matthew Schlegel of the FBI Anchorage Field Office said John posed a threat to children both in Alaska and abroad.

The account of the case comes from the Justice Department. The release contains no response from John or his defense attorney, Ben W. Muse.

Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 16. A federal district court judge will set the term after weighing the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, within a range that tops out at 15 years.