Missouri Man Sentenced to 30 Years for Recording Sex with Minor

ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Tuesday sentenced a Missouri man who recorded himself having sexual contact with a minor to 30 years in prison.

Russell Alan Pirkey, now 54, of Linn County, used his cell phone to record his sexual exploitation of a 10-year-old girl. But the abuse lasted months, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Chapman said in court Tuesday. The victim said the abuse began in August of 2022, after Pirkey began grooming her, Chapman said. She was 9 years old at the time.

Pirkey's crime was discovered on April 8, 2023, when someone with concerns about his contact with the victim contacted the Brookfield Police Department.

Pirkey pleaded guilty in September in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to a charge of sexual exploitation of a child.

The FBI, the Brookfield Police Department and the Linn County Sheriff's Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Chapman is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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 visit www.justice.gov/psc.