Missouri Man Accused of Recording Sex with Minor

ST. LOUIS – A man from Brookfield, in Linn County, Missouri, has been accused in an indictment in U.S. District Court in St. Louis of recording himself having sexual contact with a minor.

Russell Alan Pirkey, 52, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a charge of sexual exploitation of a child and a charge of accessing with intent to view child pornography.

The indictment accuses Pirkey of coercing a minor into engaging in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of video recording it between April 1 and April 8 of 2023. It also says Pirkey accessed child pornography between Jan. 1, 2023 and April 8, 2023.

A motion seeking to have Pirkey held in jail until trial says he used his cell phone to record himself having sexual contact with a 10-year-old girl. Pirkey was being held in jail on pending charges in Linn County Circuit Court.

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The sexual exploitation of children charge carries a potential penalty of 15 to 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both. The access with intent to view charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and the same fine.

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.