Rockford Man Sentenced to 60 Years in Prison for the Production of Child Pornography

ROCKFORD — A Rockford man was sentenced today to 60 years in federal prison for producing child pornography.

U.S. District Court Judge Iain D. Johnston imposed the sentence on GARY WILSON, 53, and ordered that it be followed by a lifetime of court-supervised release.

Wilson admitted in a plea agreement that between 2016 and 2019 he solicited numerous minor boys online through gaming systems such as Xbox and PlayStation, social media applications, and text messages to produce sexually exploitive images and videos for Wilson’s sexual gratification.  Wilson, who had previously been convicted of a sex offense, groomed his victims, gaining their trust through conversations during video games.  Eventually Wilson coerced and enticed the children into sending him sexually exploitive images and videos in exchange for gaming codes and money.

The sentence was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Lucas Rothaar, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Rockford Police Department assisted in the investigation.

“Few crimes are as grave as preying upon a vulnerable population and memorializing the sexual abuse of minors,” Deputy Criminal Division Chief Jessica S. Maveus argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum.  “Had defendant not been caught by investigating agents (and a minor’s parent), defendant would have continued in his pursuit to sexually exploit minors for his own sexual gratification.”

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.  Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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 click here.

If you believe you are a victim of sexual exploitation, you are encouraged to contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children by logging on to www.missingkids.com or by calling 1-800-843-5678.  The service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.