INDIANA — A federal jury has found James Lee Willis, 40, of Bloomington, guilty of receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material.
Investigators say Willis downloaded dozens of videos and images that depicted the graphic sexual abuse of minors — some of the children under the age of 10.
According to the court documents, police began their investigation into Willis’s online activity in January 2018. An IP address traced to Willis’s home depicted videos and images of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Many of the files were extremely graphic and included videos and images of adult men raping minors under the age of 10, according to evidence presented by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
U.S. District Court Judge Jane E. Magnus-Stinson presided over the trial and will sentence Willis at a later date. Willis faces a prison sentence of a minimum of 5 years, up to 20 years, for each of the 5 charges related to his downloading activity, and up to 20 years for the charge relating to his possession of the material. Willis also faces a period of supervision of 5 years, up to life, following his release from prison, and he must register as a sex offender wherever he lives, works, or goes to school.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, a partnership of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies led by the Indiana State Police.
The Task Force is dedicated to investigating and prosecuting crimes involving the technology-facilitated sexual exploitation of children and the trafficking of child sexual abuse material. Each year, Indiana ICAC investigators evaluate thousands of tips, investigate hundreds of cases, and rescue dozens of children from ongoing sexual abuse.
U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kristina M. Korobov and Adam Eakman, who prosecuted this case.
