Licking Man Sentenced to 12 Years for Child Pornography

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Licking, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for receiving and distributing child pornography.

Wesley Warren Norris, 40, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark to 12 years and seven months in federal prison without parole.

According to court documents, Norris used a peer-to-peer file-sharing network to receive and distribute images and videos of child pornography over the internet. Norris admitted that he had downloaded hundreds of files containing child pornography. Investigators located 145 images and 1,325 videos of child pornography on Norris’s electronic devices. Norris pleaded guilty on June 25, 2018, to receiving and distributing child pornography.

Norris, according to court documents, was previously convicted of endangering the welfare of a child for providing K2 to a minor female who overdosed. Norris also told investigators that two minor females had accused him of molesting them.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force and the Texas County, Mo., Sheriff’s 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."