As a Powell man made his first court appearance on 20 felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child, he predicted that the case would likely result in a lifelong prison sentence.

Christian D. Petty, 33, is alleged to have shared sexually explicit videos of children over the past year and authorities say they found “numerous” other videos when they searched his computer last week.

Eleven of the counts allege Petty may have distributed child pornography — by making files available for download from his computer via peer to peer sharing software — while the other nine allege he possessed child pornography.

At his initial court appearance on Friday, Deputy Park County Prosecuting Attorney Ericka Smith requested a $250,000 cash only bond.

“I think that the charges probably speak for themselves,” Smith said.

For his part, Petty asked if he could be released from jail to get his affairs in order.

“... I do realize the severity of this, this will probably … mean the rest of my life,” he said. “So I just ask for a little bit of time to see my dog, see my grandma, call my credit/debit card companies, settle some monetary affairs. That’s all I would ask.”

However, Park County Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah set bail at $300,000 cash only and Petty remained in custody on Monday.

Snared in undercover probe

Charging documents say his March 10 arrest followed a monthslong investigation.

Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Gary Seder, who is a part of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, indicated in an affidavit that Petty first came onto the radar in February 2025.

At the time, Seder said he was conducting “an undercover online investigation on the BitTorrent network,” seeking to catch people who were using the software to share child pornography with one other.

Seder’s affidavit says he eventually noticed a device that was tied to an IP address in Powell and appeared to be sharing illicit files. Between February 2025 and March 2026, Seder said he downloaded six different videos from the device that depicted “prepubuscent” girls engaged in sexual activity; several had explicit file names indicating the children were between the ages of 3 and 9 years old and a couple referred to incest, though it’s unclear if those descriptions were accurate.

Identified by company

The IP address in question is controlled by TCT West, and Seder said he used an “administrative summons” to obtain information from the company about the customer using the address. Information TCT provided to DCI this month indicated the IP address had been assigned to Petty for the entire time period in question, the affidavit says.

Seder then obtained search warrants for Petty’s Avenue C residence and his vehicle, moving in on March 10.

Petty reportedly agreed to speak with the agent and “described having an addiction to child pornography since he was approximately 17 years of age,” the affidavit says.

When Seder did a cursory search of Petty’s computer, he found “numerous files of suspected child pornography,” the affidavit says. All of the file names include the word “jailbait” — slang for youth who are below the age of consent for sexual activity — and several are titled as a “pedopfile [sic] MEGA pack.”

At Friday’s hearing, Petty expressed remorse, telling the court that, “I’d just like to say that I’m sorry,” before Darrah cut him off.

“You don’t want to say anything like that, OK? Because it will be used against you,” the judge warned.

A preliminary hearing in the case is tentatively set for Friday.