Registered Sex Offender Sentenced to 12 Years in Federal Prison for Using Instagram to …

EVANSVILLE— William Virgil Russell, II, 33, of Evansville, has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release after pleading guilty to possession of sexually explicit material involving minors.    According to court documents, on April 3, 2023, social media application, Instagram, reported that an account owned by William V. Russell had accessed at least one video suspected of containing child sexual abuse material. The video depicted an adult male attempting to rape a prepubescent minor female. Working with Instagram to review the account, law enforcement investigators found additional child sexual abuse material, as well as posts by Russell soliciting underage videos that stated, “Looking for freaks with young kids or siblings that need $$” and “Looking for under l2 to buy from hit me up.” On September 26, 2023, investigators searched Russell’s home in Evansville and recovered his cellphone. Further investigation uncovered 21 sexually explicit images involving minors, as well as numerous chat session transcripts in which Russell describes himself as a pedophile, says he prefers toddlers, and asks women to provide him with nude and sexually explicit images of their children. Russell often offered to pay for the images. At the time of
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