A Collin County jury sentenced 31-year-old Joshua Turner of Celina to 75 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to possession of visual material depicting sexual assault, a case that began with a tip about child pornography and expanded into allegations involving messages to minors and sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl.
District Attorney Greg Willis announced the sentence, saying Turner pled guilty on October 28 before Judge Rayburn Nall, according to the Collin County District Attorney’s Office. The investigation traces back to October 19, 2025, when the Celina Police Department received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children indicating Turner was viewing child pornography, per the DA’s account.
What Detectives Say They Found
Once the investigation began, detectives recovered images and videos of child pornography from Turner’s devices, including material depicting the sexual assault of toddlers, the DA’s office says. Investigators also say Turner deleted evidence from his devices after learning he was under investigation, though detectives were still able to recover the material.
Detectives DeGroot and Crumley found that Turner had been messaging with several minors on platforms including Kik, Session, and Telegram, according to the same account. In some of those messages, Turner described sexual acts he wanted to commit on children as young as three years old, the DA’s office says. Investigators also determined that Turner engaged in sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old after providing her with alcohol, per the DA’s office.
DA: Those Who Exploit Children Will Be Held Accountable
“Turner possessed child pornography depicting the sexual assault of toddlers, messaged multiple minors, and had sex with a 14-year-old after giving her alcohol,” Willis said, as reported by the Collin County District Attorney’s Office. Willis added that those who exploit children will be held accountable, according to the same announcement.
Assistant Criminal District Attorneys Madison Dickson and Pierce Richardson prosecuted the case, the DA’s office says. District Attorney Investigators Sarah Putman, Greg Bowers, and Keith Putman assisted the prosecution, and Melissa White assisted as a victim assistance coordinator, according to the same source.
A National Surge in Online Exploitation Reports
The case lands amid a sharp rise nationally in reports of online child exploitation. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyberTipline received 1.4 million reports concerning online enticement in 2025, according to missingkids.org. That figure reflects a 158% increase in online-enticement reports from 2024, while child-sex-trafficking reports jumped 323% over the same period, per the organization’s data.
NCMEC also reported an average of 137 financial-sextortion reports per day in 2025, a 37% increase in daily reports compared with the year before. More than 53,000 reports were identified and escalated as urgent or involving a child in imminent danger, and over 400,000 submissions involved a generative-AI nexus, according to the organization. NCMEC notes that the 2024 enactment of the REPORT Act now requires electronic service providers to report online enticement and child sex trafficking the same way they report child sexual abuse material.
