FAYETTE COUNTY — Attorneys in the Fayette County case charging a 44-year-old Missouri man with child sex crimes agreed during a phone conference Monday to a new date for bench trial.

Shelby D. Weston was already a registered sex offender in Missouri when he was arrested in March 2017 and charged with four counts Class 2 felony possessing child pornography, two counts Class 3 felony possessing child pornography, Class 3 felony traveling to meet a minor and Class 4 felony grooming.

It was the traveling to meet a minor and the grooming charges that reportedly led to the discovery of the child pornography when Weston was arrested in Vandalia.

According to court information, Weston possessed three photographs and one video of a child under the age of 13, and two other photos of a child under the age of 18.

The Missouri Sex Offender Registry shows 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.

Jury trial dates in the Fayette County case were reset multiple times before the defense elected to have Weston tried instead by a judge, rather than a jury. Scheduled dates for the bench trial have also been vacated multiple times. An all-day bench trial is now scheduled for October 17.

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