Southeast Missouri Man Sentenced to 179 Months in Prison on Child Pornography Charge

CAPE GIRARDEAU - U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. on Tuesday sentenced southeast Missouri man to 179 months in prison for receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material.

Justin Wade Welker, 40, was caught after the FBI office in Detroit learned that two people were discussing engaging in sex acts with a minor on the Kik messaging and chat app. The FBI traced one of the participants to Welker's home in the village of Sedgewickville, in Bollinger County, Missouri. FBI agents approached Welker at work, and he admitted viewing child pornography via Kik. His phone also contained child sexual abuse material.

Welker pleaded guilty in U.S District Court in Cape Girardeau in August to one count of receipt of child pornography.

The FBI and the Bollinger County Sheriff's Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Hunter is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.