Former KC Individual Sentenced to 20 Years for Attempting to Produce Child Pornography

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A former Kansas City, Mo., individual who moved to Mexico and lived under another name, has been sentenced in federal court for producing and selling child pornography online.

Wyatt Christopher Maxwell, also known as "Louis Whitaker," 25, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann A. Ketchmark on Wednesday, Nov. 20, to 20 years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Maxwell to pay a $10,000 fine. Maxwell will be required to register as a sex offender upon release from prison and will be subject to federal and state sex offender registration requirements.

Maxwell, a nonbinary transgender individual, pleaded guilty on April 17, 2024, to one count of attempting to produce child pornography. Maxwell lived in Kansas City, Mo., at the time of the offense, but afterward moved to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where they went by the name "Louis Whitaker" as a cabaret singer. Maxwell was arrested in Mexico following indictment and has remained in federal custody since arrest.

The Overland Park, Kansas, Police Department received tips in February 2021, via the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers tipline, that Maxwell was producing child pornography with a 16-year-old victim in Overland Park. Maxwell reportedly uploaded the child pornography to various online accounts. The child victim told investigators that Maxwell had been recording sexually explicit videos of the two of them for several months. Some of the recordings were created at Maxwell's residence and some were created in a nearby park.

Law enforcement agents interviewed Maxwell on Feb. 3, 2021. Maxwell confirmed they uploaded videos to their accounts on OnlyFans and JustForFans, for which Maxwell estimated they made from $3,000 to $10,000 per month from subscribers. Maxwell admitted they created approximately 20 videos where they was engaged in some type of sex act with the child victim. Those videos were uploaded to Maxwell's OnlyFans and JustForFans accounts.

Investigators found 39 videos of child pornography that were downloaded on Maxwell's cell phone, 96 videos of child pornography involving the child victim, and 24 images of child pornography involving the child victim.

Investigators confirmed payments from Maxwell's OnlyFans account totaling $49,151, and from Maxwell's JustForFans account totaling $2,954. There were 153 videos uploaded to the JustForFans account, 16 of which depicted sexual activity involving the child victim.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison D. Dunning. It was investigated by the FBI and the Overland Park, Kan., 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."