Ex-Tulip Time official expected to plead guilty

Wed, Nov 4, 2009    to del.icio.us

Thomas Westerlund, the former Tulip Time official accused of possessing child pornography, is scheduled to plead guilty as charged in federal court later this week.

In exchange for pleading guilty to all four counts of his federal indictment, prosecutors will agree to drop several charges Westerlund faces in Ottawa County Circuit Court, according to documents released Tuesday.

Westerlund's federal charges include two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, possessing images of minors engaged in sexual conduct and possessing child pornography.

He is scheduled for a plea hearing change on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids.

Westerlund, 50, of Grand Haven Township, resigned from his position as operations manager of Tulip Time Inc. in March, following a Zeeland Police Department investigation into a March 25 complaint that Westerlund gave alcohol to a juvenile male.

After another minor told police he believed Westerlund had sexual contact with his juvenile friend, investigators obtained a warrant to search Westerlund's home, vehicle, sailboat and Tulip Time office.

They confiscated DVDs, CDs and computer hard drives allegedly containing images and videos depicting boys in various states of undress.

Westerlund's plea agreement states that if he receives a federal court sentence of at least 15 years in prison, Ottawa County prosecutors will dismiss four of six criminal sexual conduct charges he faces in Ottawa County Circuit Court.

He must still plead guilty to two of those charges, which accuse him of molesting two boys. Each state charge — one in the second degree and another in the fourth degree — is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

The Ottawa County Prosecutor's Office will also recommend that Westerlund's sentences for the state and federal charges run concurrently.

The maximum sentence the court can give Westerlund for each federal count is 30 years for sexual exploitation of a minor, 10 years for possessing images of minors engaged in sexual conduct, and 10 years for possessing child pornography.

In August, Westerlund's attorney asked the U.S. District Court judge to throw out evidence obtained from the search warrant during Westerlund's upcoming jury trial. He argued police unfairly obtained the warrant from a biased magistrate who was once a Holland police officer. The Holland Police Department investigated Westerlund in 2002 on suspicion he had pornographic images of children on his computer.

The court last week rejected the request to dismiss the search warrant evidence.