Steven D. Weinhoeft is the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois | Official photo
Steven D. Weinhoeft is the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois | Official photo
A federal judge in Benton, Illinois has sentenced Bryan K. Atkins, 40, of Richmond, Indiana to 293 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to two counts of solicitation of child pornography. Upon release from prison, Atkins will be subject to supervised release for the remainder of his life.
“Targeting children online and solicitating sexually explicit images from them will earn you a federal prison sentence,” said U.S. Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office is working in lockstep with the FBI to protect children from sexual predators and will continue to pursue high penalties for offenders.”
Court documents showed that Atkins twice initiated conversations with an undercover FBI agent who was posing as a 13-year-old child. During these interactions on April 3 and June 16, 2024, Atkins requested sexually explicit images.
“The subject sought to coerce children into providing sexually explicit images, and without our agent’s proactive work in this case, the subject's activities may have gone undetected until they advanced their desires,” said FBI Springfield’s Special Agent in Charge Christopher J. S. Johnson. “FBI Springfield continues to work tirelessly to protect our children from people like the defendant, and we will continue to prove it with actions like this.”
Atkins previously had been convicted of sexual misconduct with a minor in Indiana state court.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI Springfield Field Office, and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Sanders prosecuted the case.
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