William Shane Berg, Child Sex Abuse, Missouri 2020

A Springfield man has admitted to sexually abusing a child and recording the abuse on his cell phone.

William Shane Berg, 49, pleaded guilty to one count of the sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of receiving child pornography over the internet.

The crimes took place in Springfield, Mo., and were uncovered after law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Berg’s residence on April 12, 2020. Investigators found multiple files on the cell phone and the laptop computer that depicted Berg sexually abusing the victim, as well as additional files of child pornography that Berg downloaded from the internet.

When the victim was interviewed at the Springfield Child Advocacy Center, he told investigators that Berg started sexually abusing him when he was in the fifth grade. He said Berg took videos on his cell phone during the sexual abuse.

Under federal statutes, Berg is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of 50 years in federal prison without parole.

Berg’s sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller, and was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, the FBI, and the Springfield, Mo., Police Department.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. The initiative marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

William Shane Berg, the defendant, will face the consequences of his actions in a federal prison with a sentence of up to 50 years without parole. The public will be watching as this case unfolds in the courts, and we will continue to report on any developments in the case.

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