December 1, 2015

Two Sex Offenders Convicted on Online Solicitation Charges

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX—Two men, already convicted sex offenders who resided in Corpus Christi, have both been convicted for online solicitation of a minor in separate but similar cases, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson.

James Robert Kirkland, 48, pleaded guilty today before Senior U.S. District Hayden Head, while Taylor Alan Mills, 29, entered his guilty plea before Senior U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack yesterday.

At the hearings, each judge heard that in September 2015, FBI, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Corpus Christi Police Department—Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (CCPD-ICAC) conducted a joint investigation targeting individuals involved in online solicitation of minors. Mills and Kirkland were both communicating with a person they believed was the mother of two minor female children—ages 14 and 11. In reality, they were actually talking to an undercover officer. Mills and Kirkland each made arrangements to meet and engage in sexual activity with the mother’s minor female children.

Both men were apprehended as they arrived at the designated meeting places. At the time of each man’s arrest, they both had had several condoms with them and admitted to authorities that their intentions were to engage in sexual acts with the minor children.

Mills will be sentenced Feb. 9, 2016, before Judge Jack, while Kirkland is set for Feb. 10, 2016, before Judge Head. At their hearings, Mills and Kirkland face a minimum of 10 years and up to life in federal prison. Upon completion of any prison term imposed, they also face a maximum of life on supervised release during which time the court can impose a number of special conditions designed to protect children and prohibit the use of the Internet.

Both men were arrested on the federal charges in September 2015 and have been in custody since that time where they will remain pending his sentencing hearing.

The cases, prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Hugo R. Martinez, was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”