Patrick Winkler, 44, was sentenced to nearly 174 years in prison for crimes involving underage victims, officials said.

A man registered as a sex offender was recently sentenced to 173 years in prison after a 2018 investigation of child pornography on his cellphone, officials say.

Patrick Michael Winkler, 44, was found guilty of 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, two counts of luring a minor for sexual exploitation, three counts of unlawful age misrepresentation, and one count of failure to register as a sex offender, according to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.

In March 2017, Winkler was released on community supervision after a 15-year sentence for child molestation.

A year later, a parole officer found concerning conversations on Winkler’s cell phone, including pictures of underage girls and reported him, the news release said.

Tucson Police Department’s investigation led to videos and images of child pornography on the cell phone downloaded between November 2017 and March 2018.

Detectives also found Winkler’s account on Whisper, an anonymous social media site, which he used to misrepresent his age during attempts to lure minors for sexual exploitation, the news release said.

To report online exploitation of children, file a report at report.cybertip.org/


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Contact Star reporter Shaq Davis at 573-4218 or sdavis@tucson.com

On Twitter: @ShaqDavis1