EVANSVILLE— William Virgil Russell II, 33, of Evansville, has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release after pleading guilty to possession of sexually explicit material involving minors.
According to court documents, on April 3, 2023, the social media application, Instagram, reported that an account owned by William V. 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.
Working with Instagram to review the account, law enforcement investigators 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.”
On September 26, 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 photos.
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, 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 E. Childress, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. “I commend the investigators with the FBI, Evansville PD, and the efforts of our AUSA for working together to ensure more vulnerable individuals are not victimized.”
The FBI and the Evansville Police Department investigated this case. U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young imposed the sentence
Acting U.S. Attorney Childress thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd S. Shellenbarger, who prosecuted this case.
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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.
If you are a victim of child sexual exploitation, please get in touch with your local police department. Resources for victims of child exploitation can be found at https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdin/project-safe-childhood
