SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Timothy A. Garrison, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Joplin, Mo., man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for attempting to produce child pornography.
James Loyd Wainright, 36, of Joplin, was charged in a three-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield, Mo., on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018.
The federal indictment charges Wainright with two counts of attempting to use two minors, on separate occasions from June 25 to Aug. 6, 2017, to produce child pornography. According to the indictment, the first child victim was born in 2002 and the second child victim was born in 2003.
Wainright is also charged with one count of receiving and distributing child pornography.
Garrison cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force and the Webb City, Mo., Police Department.
Project Safe Childhood
This case was brought as 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. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
