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A Evansville man found guilty of possessing sexually explicit material involving minors will now face a dozen years in federal prison.
U.S. District Judge Richard Young sentenced William Russell, II, 33, to 12 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release.
According to court documents, on April 3, 2023, Instagram, reported that an account owned by Russell had accessed at least one video suspected of containing child sexual abuse material. The video depicted an adult male attempting to rape a prepubescent minor female.
Law enforcement investigators worked with Instagram and found additional child sexual abuse material, as well as posts by Russell soliciting underage videos that stated, “Looking for freaks with young kids or siblings that need $$” and “Looking for under l2 to buy from hit me up.”
In September 2023, investigators searched Russell’s home in Evansville and recovered his cellphone.
Further investigation uncovered 21 sexually explicit images involving minors, as well as numerous chat session transcripts in which Russell describes himself as a pedophile, says he prefers toddlers, and asks women to provide him with nude and sexually explicit images of their children. Russell often offered to pay for the images.
At the time of the offenses described above, Russell was a registered sex offender based on a felony conviction for possession of child sexual abuse material in Warrick County, Indiana.
Following his release from federal prison, Russell must continue to remain registered as a sex offender wherever he lives, works, or goes to school.
“Every parent should know that social media apps like Instagram are not safe spaces for young children and are often hunting grounds for predators who seek gratification from their exploitation,” said John Childress, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, in a news release.
The FBI and Evansville Police Department investigated this case.
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