Omaha man convicted of organizing illegal shooting drills and sexually assaulting a child

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – A former security guard at Offutt Air Force Base he was charged with many charges in two different cases was sentenced on Friday.

John Channels, 29, was sentenced to 39 years in prison for multiple charges.

In 5 counts terrorist threatsChannels was sentenced to 2 years and 794 days of punishment, to be served concurrently with the remaining charges.

For possession of child pornography, Channels was sentenced to 4 years in prison. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for first-degree sexual assault. For First degree sexual assault of a childhe was sentenced to 15 years.

All these sentences are to be performed consecutively.

In May 2022, Channels caused panic in the city of Omaha when he was hired by Catholic Charities to stage an active shooter drill at the organization’s building near 92nd and Bedford Street.

Police discovered that as part of the training exercise, Channels fired blanks from his gun, posing as victims, throughout the area to keep the scene visible to workers inside.

But investigators learned that Channels told Catholic Charities that it would be best if no one told employees it was a drill to make them feel like they were in real danger.

Authorities were not notified of the exercise and had no contact with Channels before the exercise.

Channels was not immediately arrested for the incident, but just nine days later he was arrested in a separate case he was involved in accused of sexually molesting a 14-year-old girl.