In a sobering reminder of the persistent dangers lurking online, a Florissant man, already on the register for sex offenders, has owned up to his latest charge in a series of disturbing offenses; Christopher A. Wheetley, 42, entered a guilty plea for receipt of child pornography, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office. When law enforcement examined his computer equipment, they found not only nearly 500 illegal images and a video of child sexual abuse but also evidence of internet searches indicating a sustained interest in such material.
Details of the grim discovery trace back to an online "peer-to-peer" operation by a detective with the St. Louis County Police Department, who connected illegal activity to Wheetley's IP address on September 12, 2023 with Wheetley already having history with law enforcement, previously pleaded no contest to possession of child pornography back in California the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children had also tagged him in a cyber-tip from November 2020, related to a suspicious upload of 40 files on Kik. Despite a conviction and a probation period in California, he was still able to continue his illicit activities from his home in Missouri.
Under the dark shadow of his past convictions, including a prior count of distribution of child pornography, the consequences for Wheetley are severe, confronting a mandatory minimum of 15 years behind bars, a joint recommendation by the prosecution and his defense attorney has been agreed upon, leading up to his July 17 sentencing. The scrutiny and subsequent arrest are the collaborative efforts of the St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI, capsulated in a prosecution by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hayes.
This distressing instance forms part of a broader initiative dubbed Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide campaign that began in May 2006 and is steered by Department of Justice resources from both the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and its Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood aims to confront the escalating crisis of child exploitation associate with internet use, through bolstered efforts to pin down offenders and to extend a lifeline to those young ones entrapped within these harrowing experiences.
