Joplin man sentenced to 18 years on sexual exploitation of a child, child porn charges

During a hearing today in U. S. District Court in Springfield, a federal judge sentenced Kaleb Wilson, 28, Joplin, to 18 years on counts of sexual exploitation of a child and receiving and distributing child pornography. The terms will run concurrently.

After he finishes his sentence, Wilson will be on supervised probation for 20 years.

Wilson's crimes were described in an October 12 news release from the U. S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri:

According to an affidavit filed in support of today’s federal criminal complaint, Instagram submitted a CyberTipline report on May 5, 2017, to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The report indicated that an Instagram user, later identified as Wilson, had uploaded multiple images of child pornography between March 21 and March 26, 2017.

Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Wilson’s residence on April 2, 2018, and seized several electronic items, which are pending forensic examination.

On Aug. 14, 2018, a detective with the Vancouver, Wash., Police Department contacted the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force and requested assistance in a separate investigation of Wilson. The Vancouver investigation was launched when a resident of that jurisdiction reported that her minor child had been exchanging sexually explicit messages and images with an adult male, later identified as Wilson.Wilson  communicated with the minor victim via the social media application Kik.

According to the affidavit, Wilson and the child victim communicated and exchanged pornographic photos with each other from December 2016 through Aug. 8, 2018.