McAlester Resident Sentenced To 20 Years For Possessing Material Involving The Sexual Exploitation Of A Minor

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Nathan Rex Upton, age 35, of McAlester, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment, followed by a 10-year term of supervised release, for one count of Possession of Certain Material Involving the Sexual Exploitation of a Minor.

The charges arose from investigations by the Pittsburg County Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Secret Service.

On November 1, 2023, Upton pleaded guilty to the charge.  According to investigators, on October 20, 2022, law enforcement executed a search warrant for Upton’s McAlester home.  Agents seized multiple computer hard drives.  A subsequent search of the drives revealed over 16,000 images depicting child sexual abuse.

The Honorable Judge Ronald A. White, Chief Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing.  Upton will remain in custody of the U.S. Marshal pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non-paroleable sentence of incarceration.

Assistant United States Attorney Caila M. Cleary represented the United States.

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 and Internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources”.

We encourage anyone who suspects or has information regarding child sexual exploitation, trafficking of minors, sextortion, child pornography, or any other means of child exploitation to immediately contact law enforcement.  You can file a report on the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) website at www.cybertipline.com.  If you prefer to speak to someone directly, you can contact NCMEC’s Call Center at 1-800-843-5678, the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), or HSI at 1-877-4-HSI TIP (1-877-447-4847).