Webb City man pleads guilty to federal child sex charges
Jul. 20—SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A Webb City man pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to charges related to the sexual exploitation of two children.
Harley Wayne Schrader, 26, pleaded guilty before U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge David P. Rush to two counts of the sexual exploitation of a child involving two children.
By pleading guilty, Schrader admitted that he solicited pornographic images from an 8-year-old child victim and that he sent her pornographic images of himself through social media, the U.S. attorney's office for the Western District of Missouri said in a release. Schrader also admitted that he solicited pornographic images from a 16-year-old victim he met through a video game.
A Joplin police officer took a report on July 7, 2017, that Schrader had sent inappropriate pictures to the child victim. Investigators also found sexually explicit images of the child victim that had been sent to Schrader.
On Oct. 4, 2017, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Schrader's residence and seized his cell phone. During an interview with officers, Schrader also admitted that he met a 16-year-old girl through a video game and she sent him nude images of herself, investigators said.
Investigators found multiple messages between Schrader and the 16-year-old victim on his cell phone, as well as images of child pornography, according to the office of acting U.S. Attorney Teresa A. Moore.
Under federal statutes, Schrader is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison without parole, and a sentence of up to 30 years in federal prison without parole. Under the terms of Tuesday's plea agreement, the government will recommend no more than a concurrent 18-year term.
A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crime Task Force and Joplin police.
