Courtney Williams, Child Sexual Exploitation, Illinois 2023

State: Illinois
Category: Sex Crimes
Source: <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdil/pr/decatur-man-sentenced-27-years-prison-child-sex-crimes" style="color:#cc0000;" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">DOJ Press Release ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Â Ã¢â‚¬â€

Decatur Man Sentenced to 27 Years for Child Sex Crimes

URBANA, Ill. – Courtney Williams, 32, of the 3500 block of Plover Dr. in Decatur, Ill., was sentenced today to 324 months (27 years) in federal prison for child sexual exploitation offenses.

According to court documents, Williams portrayed himself as a 17-year-old male while communicating online with a minor girl via Snapchat and text. As part of these communications, Williams solicited the girl to send him sexually explicit photos and to meet him to engage in sexual activity.

Further, Williams lured the minor into his vehicle on the evening of Jan. 24, 2020, and took her to his residence where he gave her drugs which caused her to lose consciousness. While the minor girl was unconscious, Williams sexually assaulted her.

Williams entered a plea of guilty to the indictment on March 11, 2021. The charges were investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Decatur Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elly M. Peirson represented the government in the prosecution. Following Williams’s release from prison, he will be on federal supervised release for 10 years and will be required to register as a sex offender.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. This initiative marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

Williams has been in the custody of the U.S. Marshals since his arrest on Feb. 7, 2020. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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