The Feds Take Over Prosecution of James Michael Wilson

According to the indictment, Wilson used Instagram, Dropbox, and an Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max cellular phone to transport lewd images of children and videos of children in sexually explicit conduct.

The files described in the indictment were both videos, one being 39 seconds long and the other being 2:07 long. Both videos contained female children as young as two years old and as old as 10 years old in sexual performance.

The indictment alleges Wilson used Instagram and Dropbox as the vehicles to transmit the lewd videos using the iPhone. 

The legal process for federal indictments involves several stages, starting with the arraignment, where the defendant will be formally presented with the charges. Federal District Magistrate Judge John S. Parker in Abilene ordered Wilson held without bond at least until his arraignment.

Originally scheduled in September, the arraignment was set back to Oct. 10 at the federal courthouse in Abilene due to medical reasons, according to the court docket.

On August 21, 2024, the Tom Green County Sheriff's Office simultaneously executed a search warrant on two properties which led to the arrest of  Wilson on four counts of Possession of Child Pornography. The U.S. Attorney has since reduced the counts to two.

On August 6, 2024, the Tom Green County Sheriff's Office received a Cyber Tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding Child Sexual Abuse Material being uploaded onto Instagram as well as Dropbox, a cloud-based storage service. The sheriff developed a probable cause that identified James Wilson as a suspect.  A search warrant was obtained and executed at a residence in San Angelo as well as a place known as James Wilson's place of employment, also located in San Angelo. 

Evidence discovered during the execution of the search warrant and the totality of information learned during the investigation led to Wilson's immediate arrest.

The federal prosecutor at the Northern District of Texas led by U.S. Attorney Jeffery Haag took over the case in September.