Joplin man who had sex with teen runaway at local motel, made videos pleads guilty

A Joplin man who had sex with a runaway 16-year-old girl in a local motel and made videos of the act pleaded guilty this afternoon in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri to sexual exploitation of a child.

Judge David P. Rush ordered a presentence investigation for William Lee Potts, 22. No date has been scheduled for the sentencing.

According to a detention motion filed last year, Potts brought the teen from Waynesville to Joplin.

The defendant was questioned and confessed to engaging in sexual intercourse with the victim. The defendant acknowledged that he was aware of the victim’s age and the illegality of his acts. The defendant further admitted that he photographed and made video recordings of the victim engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The grand jury indictment charged Potts with using the girl to produce child pornography between April 26 and May 1, 2019. He was found in the motel room with the girl May 1. Investigators searched his cell phone and found sexually explicit images and a child pornography video.