FAYETTE COUNTY — After nearly six years, one of three felony cases accusing a Vandalia man of child sex crimes is now scheduled for a fall jury trial in Fayette County Court.

Dennis Pickens appeared in court Wednesday on three separate cases.

The first case – filed in 2018 — charges the former federal corrections officer with four Class X felony counts of producing child pornography.

Pickens was 59 years old when he was arrested in September 2018 and charged with the child pornography offenses. A few months later he was arrested and charged with three Class X felony counts of violating the conditions of his $70,000 cash bond by reportedly contacting his three alleged victims and also with criminal sexual assault of a victim between the ages of 13 and 17 who was under his supervision.

According to the prosecution, Pickens produced four videos, three depicting a victim under the age of 18 and one video containing two victims under the age of 18. Unconfirmed reports indicate one of those three alleged victims has passed away in the last few days. Her cause of death is unclear at this time.

The original case has plodded through the court system for more than five years and during a Wednesday pre-trial hearing an October 21st trial date, which will push the original case past the six-year mark since it was initially filed.

The two 2019 cases are set for pretrial hearings in August.