If no lawyer is listed, call 918-582-6422 and MoreLaw will help you find a lawyer for free.

Description: Springfield, Missouri criminal law lawyer represented defendant charged for engaging in a sextortion scheme in which 11 identified child victims, and dozens more child victims who have not been identified, were coerced to send him pornographic images and videos.

“This defendant, a high school teacher, pretended to be a teenager online in order to prey upon young victims across the country,” said U.S. Attorney Teresa Moore. “He victimized 11 children who have been identified, and many more who have not yet been identified, in a horrific sexploitation scheme. He enticed countless child victims to send him explicit images of themselves, then threatened to share those images with their families and friends over social media unless they continued to send him even more explicit images and videos. Such appalling criminal behavior warrants the severe penalty he received today.”

Brandon Lane McCullough, 33, of Branson, Mo., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 30 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced McCullough to spend the rest of his life on supervised release following incarceration, and to pay $204,199 in restitution to one of his victims.

“Today’s sentencing is reflective of just how despicable and damaging McCullough’s crimes against children are and emphasizes HSI’s dedication to hold perpetrators accountable,” said HSI Special Agent in Charge of the Kansas City area of operations Katherine Greer. “We, alongside our law enforcement partners, are committed to the eradication of sextortion from our communities, but we need the public’s help. HSI asks parents, guardians, teachers, caregivers – anyone who interacts with a child – to be on the lookout for, and report, suspicious online behavior to the proper authorities, regardless of whether the individual is in a position of public trust, like McCullough.”

McCullough was a business teacher at Cassville High School in the Cassville R-4 School District at the time of the offense.

On Aug. 4, 2021, McCullough pleaded guilty to three counts of the sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of coercing and enticing a minor to engage in illicit sexual activity.

The federal investigation began on Feb. 14, 2020, when a police detective in New Jersey contacted federal agents in Missouri. The mother of a 14-year-old victim had reported to the local police department that her daughter was using the Kik application to have sexually explicit conversations, and to send sexually explicit images, to McCullough.

McCullough portrayed himself as a 15-year-old boy when he began chatting via Kik with Jane Doe 1 in May 2019. McCullough threatened to send the sexually explicit images and videos to the Jane Doe 1’s family and friends unless she sent him additional images and videos. Jane Doe also engaged in a Kik conversation with another user, who was actually McCullough portraying himself as a 17-year-old boy. When Jane Doe told this false persona that she was being blackmailed, he told her to continue meeting his demands.

On May 7, 2020, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at McCullough’s residence. They seized an external hard drive that was concealed beneath a basket under a bathroom sink in the basement. The hard drive contained dozens of Kik folders, which contained chats as well as thousands of images and videos of child pornography that were self-produced by the child victims, some of whom were younger than Jane Doe 1.

Based upon a forensic examination of the computer hard drive recovered from McCullough’s residence, investigators were able to identify 10 additional child victims of McCullough’s sextortion scheme. Dozens more child victims could not be identified. McCullough followed a similar pattern with each victim, extorting the victims to produce sexually explicit images and videos with the promise he would delete all the images once the new ones were sent. When the victims sent the videos and/or images, McCullough would start the cycle again. This activity began at least as early as Nov. 1, 2018.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, and the Florham Park Borough, New Jersey, Police Department.

Outcome: 08/02/2022 65 Minute Entry for proceedings held before District Judge M. Douglas Harpool: SENTENCING held on 8/2/2022 for Brandon Lane McCullough (1), Time in court: 10:36 a.m. to 11:36 a.m. To order a transcript of this hearing please contact Jeannine Rankin, 417-225-7713, jeannine_rankin@mow.uscourts.gov. (Howard, Linda) (Entered: 08/02/2022)
08/02/2022 66 JUDGMENT and COMMITMENT as to Brandon Lane McCullough (1), Count(s) 1, 2, 3, dismissed upon oral mtn by gov't; Count(s) 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, : Dft is committed to the BOP for 360 months on Counts 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s of the Superseding Information. All terms to run concurrent; followed by a Life term of supervised release on Counts 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s to run concurrent. No fine. JVTA waived. $500 MPA. Restitution imposed in the amount of $204,199.53- Government will file a proposed Restitution Judgment. Court recommends sex offender treatment at a suitable SOMP facility and dft be designated to Pekin FCI or Marion USP. Dft advised of right to appeal. Dft remanded in custody (Howard, Linda) (Entered: 08/02/2022)
08/02/2022 67 STATEMENT OF REASONS (Sealed) as to Brandon Lane McCullough.

Per United States Judicial Conference policy, only authorized recipients shall be provided a copy of the Statement of Reasons absent express prior written authorization from this Court. Distribution is limited to the applicable defense counsel, the AUSA, the Financial Litigation Unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office, and Probation/Pretrial Services. Defense counsel are specifically prohibited from providing a copy of the Statement of Reasons to any defendant for any reason. Pro se defendants are also prohibited from obtaining a copy of the Statement of Reasons.

NOTICE: Document is available to applicable parties only. Authorized users enter PACER login and password first for authentication. The case AUSA shall forward this document to the Financial Litigation Unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office.

(Howard, Linda) (Entered: 08/02/2022)

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

Comments: