Joshua Evan Lilley, Child Pornography, Missouri 2021

Kansas City Man Faces Decades in Prison for Child Pornography Offenses

A 30-year-old Kansas City man has pleaded guilty to distributing and receiving child pornography, crimes that could land him in prison for up to 40 years without parole.

Joshua Evan Lilley, 30, of Kansas City, Missouri, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to one count of distributing child pornography and one count of receiving child pornography over the internet.

According to court documents, an FBI employee was acting in an undercover capacity on April 30, 2021, targeting individuals on a social media site who were actively engaged in sharing, distributing, and/or producing child pornography. The undercover FBI employee was in contact with a site user who sent Lilley images and videos of child pornography, which that individual had produced.

Lilley sent at least six videos of child sexual abuse to the FBI covert employee, including one involving bestiality. He also sent a link to approximately 184 videos of child sexual abuse that he had collected. Lilley said he was involved with other groups on the social media site that shared child pornography and asked to meet the FBI covert employee for dinner and a drink.

Lilley's crimes were discovered after law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at his residence on May 5, 2021, and seized his iPhone, iPad, laptop computer, and a thumb drive, each of which contained child pornography. Investigators also seized marijuana, a loaded Taurus 9mm semi-automatic pistol, a Savage Arms .22-caliber rifle, and $12,020 in cash.

Lilley could face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of 40 years in federal prison without parole. 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 Alison D. Dunning. It was investigated by the FBI and the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department.

Lilley's crimes are 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. The project marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmo/pr/kc-man-pleads-guilty-child-pornography