A Newburgh, New York, man pleaded guilty in federal court today to attempting to produce child pornography after soliciting sexually explicit photos and videos of two 8-year-old twin sisters in Missouri.
Charles Junious Adams, 38, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Willie J. Epps, Jr., to one count of attempting to produce child pornography.
The father of the child victims contacted the Boone County Sheriff’s Department on March 1, 2019, to report that Adams had been communicating with one of his daughters through applications on her iPod. Adams asked her on several occasions to send him nude images and video of herself as well as video of her sister getting out of the shower. She sent him the images and videos and engaged in live chats with Adams several times; each time, she was asked to get naked. Adams also sent sexually explicit videos to the child victim.
The child victim told investigators she initially thought she was talking to a girl, but then a boy started talking and told her he was the girl’s brother. The child victim had not seen the face of the person to whom she was talking.
Under federal statutes, Adams is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of 30 years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashley S. Turner. It was investigated by the FBI and the Boone County Sheriff’s Department.
Project Safe Childhood
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”