Sentence of Child Porn King Pete Wesson Reduced

 

William Howard Wesson - everyone knew him as "Pete" and everyone who knew him liked him. No one suspected that the former owner of a Florence sign business had amassed a huge collection of child porn until his arrest.

From a 2018 news account:

Pete Wesson, a local businessman who retired late last year, has been arrested in Florence on charges of possession of 55 images of child pornography. For many years, William Howard Wesson, better known as Pete, owned Signs by DE-Sign, also known as Wesson Signs, located on East Tennessee Street. He gained local fame for initiating a “Vote Them All Out” campaign aimed at the Florence City Council.

The 65 year old Wesson is a long time Tuscumbia/Florence resident who attended UNA and had a long business career beginning with a job as assistant manager at the Tuscumbian Theatre while he was in college. Wesson was also a familiar fixture at what was then the Baptist Student Union and a member of the UNA rifle team in the early to mid-seventies, graduating with a business degree in 1984. Wesson was also a recent commander of the Florence American Legion Post.

The 1970 Deshler grad’s LinkedIn profile also lists: Class President, 1970 University Man of the Year, University Band, Collegiate Singers, Inter-Presidents Council, Celebrity Escort, University of North Alabama Rifle Team. (Target Shooting)

A friend offered the following statement: “I’ve known Pete since college. He really was a self-made man and I didn’t know anyone who didn’t like him. His parents were divorced and his dad was never in the picture. Pete has a lovely wife and their son was serving in the military for quite a while. I’ve always considered Pete one of the most patriotic guys I know.”

Wesson was originally convicted on 56 counts and ordered to serve four years on each count consecutively. In all, Lauderdale County Judge Ben Graves ordered the businessman to serve over 200 years in prison.

Now, Florence attorney Ralph Holt has appealed the sentence successfully. As of 2022, Wesson is serving only 28 years on a total of 11 counts. Pete is now housed at the Hamilton Aged & Infirm Unit and will be released in 2046 at which time he will be 95 years old. If any still feel sorry for Wesson, he will be eligible for parole at the age of 88 in 2039.