GOSHEN — A local man told a federal judge Tuesday that he possessed child pornography, but Stephen Sachs isn’t technically convicted yet and can still work for the Elkhart Street Department.

U.S. District Judge Robert Miller conditionally accepted the guilty plea from Sachs, 52, in a South Bend courtroom.

Sachs’ attorney, Roxanne Dawson, asked Miller to not fully accept the plea and take Sachs into custody Tuesday. She said her client has “been perfect on pretrial release,” and he’d like to continue to work, she said. “He has had the same employment for 25 years,” Dawson said.

John Maciejczyk, assistant U.S. Attorney, said he agreed to not oppose the request, so Miller broke from his normal routine and instead will formally convict Sachs at his sentencing Oct. 25.

Sachs faces from no prison time to 10 years, less than indicated in the plea agreement, Maciejczyk and Dawson told the judge.

The attorneys also told the judge the written plea agreement listed the incorrect date when Elkhart County authorities raided his home in Brookside Manor Mobile Home Park. That happened last July, not in 2010, they told the judge.

Sachs told the judge repeatedly he’d committed the crime of possessing images of children younger than 12 in sex acts and said he pleaded guilty “because it’s what I’ve done.”

Nevertheless, under Elkhart policy disciplinary action with the city won’t happen until he’s formally convicted, Vicci Moore, Elkhart human-resources chief, said last week.