COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – A Bethel Township man will spend up to the next 40 years in prison after being sentenced this week.
39-year-old Justin O’Neill, , was sentenced byacting Branch County Circuit Judge Kirk Kashian to 16 to 40 years in prison after pleading no contest to aggravated child sexually abusive activity and using a computer to commit a crime. Because O’Neill is a second habitual offender, his maximum sentence was extended from 25 to 40 years, Kashian said during sentencing O’Neal left the court with “no other alternative” given the nature of the offenses.
The charges stem from a July 2025 search of O’Neill’s residence by his probation officer, who discovered cellphones containing child pornography.
Investigators with the Michigan State Police Cyber Crime Unit found hundreds of sexual videos of pre-teen girls on the devices, along with comments from O’Neill noting that some videos resembled the victim of a 2018 Calhoun County assault.
O’Neill had been placed on probation in January 2025 following a no-contest plea to second-degree criminal sexual conduct for that assault.
The Branch County discovery triggered a probation violation in Calhoun County, resulting in a separate sentence of seven to 15 years in prison last July, which court records indicate will run concurrently with his new term.
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