FAYETTE COUNTY — The bench trial of a 43-year-old Missouri man is scheduled to begin today (Tuesday) in Fayette County court on sex offense and child pornography charges.

Shelby D. Weston is registered in Missouri as a child sex offender.

He was arrested in 2017 in Vandalia and was initially charged in Fayette County Court with Class 3 felony traveling to meet a minor and Class 4 felony grooming.

He was later also charged with four Class 2 felony charges of possession child pornography and two Class 3 felony charges of possessing photos of child pornography.

Class 2 felonies are punishable by between three and seven years in prison, while Class 3 felonies are punishable by between two and five years in prison.

Weston has remained in the Fayette County Jail since his arrest in March 2017, with bail set at $250,000.

According to the Missouri Sex Offender Registry, Weston was convicted in 2004 in Missouri on multiple charges including enticing and attempting to entice a child, as well as attempted statutory sodomy of a child.

He was 29-years-old at the time of the Missouri offenses and the victim was a 13-year-old female.