The case of a Vandalia man charged with 10 counts of child pornography that has already been in the Fayette County Court system for almost three years will possibly take until 2018 to resolve due to a defense motion to continue being granted Tuesday. 37-year old Ryan J. Koontz appeared in Fayette County Court on Tuesday with new defense counsel, Ed Veltman, who is now officially entered into the case becoming the fifth defense attorney assigned or hired by Koontz during the process of the case to this point. Veltman informed the court that he wished to continue the case which was set for the September 25 jury setting due to the fact that he had just been appointed as counsel on a multiple homicide case out of Jefferson County. Veltman informed the court that he had spoken to Fayette County State’s Attorney Joshua Morrison and Assistant Attorney General Shannon O’Brien and due to the nature of the case and Veltman’s other court conflicts, they were agreeable to continuance only because of the size scope of the case and Veltman having just under a month to prepare for trial as well as an upcoming leave from work for AAG O’Brien that would restrict her traveling to Fayette County from Chicago for several weeks. Judge Don Sheafor stated that while he did not want to see the case go out that amount of time, he understood the circumstances and the court also had to allow Koontz the right to have the new counsel and have that counsel be prepared for trial as well. A pre-trial date has been set for October 12 at 11am which was also announced as the date the State’s Attorney’s office and the AAG were allowing the plea deal that Koontz was expected to take last week to remain on the table before it is no longer available and jury trial is now set for February 19, 2018 at 8:30am. Koontz is charged with 8 counts of possession of child pornography, which are Class 2 felonies and punishable by 3-7 years in prison, and 2 counts of reproducing or disseminating child pornography of a child reasonably known to be under 13 years of age, which are punishable by 6-30 years in prison. Koontz remains in the Fayette County Jail as his bond on the case was revoked following his no show at his previous scheduled trial week in April which then led to a search over several days by law enforcement before he was captured and taken into custody.