San Angelo Man Gets 50 Years for Posing as Child to Exploit 9-Year-Old Online

SAN ANGELO, TX - A San Angelo man who impersonated an 11-year-old child and persuaded a 9-year-old female child to produce child sexual abuse material was sentenced Tuesday to 50 years in federal prison, announced Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham.

James Wilson, 57, was indicted in September and pleaded guilty in December 2024 to Production of Child Pornography and Transportation of Child Pornography. He was sentenced Tuesday to 600 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix, who also ordered Wilson to pay $106,500 in restitution.

According to court documents, Wilson "employed" a 9-year-old victim to produce at least two videos of her engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Wilson admitted to using a social media application to transport multiple videos of child pornography over the Internet. He also admitted to possessing and transporting a video that depicted a 10-year-old female child engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Wilson admitted to law enforcement that he had viewed and downloaded child pornography for several years.

The vast collection of child pornography possessed by Wilson included videos from "multiple identified child pornography series." Minor victims from 13 of the series requested restitution due to trauma from their sexual abuse. The Court awarded $106,500 in restitution to those victims.  

FBI’s Dallas Field Division – San Angelo Resident Agency and the Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Whitney Ohlhausen prosecuted the case.