CHANUTE, Kan. — A Chanute man serving with the Army National Guard was sentenced in federal court Tuesday for sexually exploiting an 11-year-old southwest Missouri victim to produce child pornography.
Christian Sinclair, 22, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to 16 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Sinclair to 15 years of supervised release following incarceration.
On March 2, 2022, Sinclair pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child. Sinclair admitted that he used a minor to produce child pornography from Aug. 1, 2020, through June 15, 2021.
According to Sinclair’s plea agreement, a captain in the Kansas National Guard contacted the Sierra Vista, Arizona, police department on June 15, 2021, while his unit was deployed to Arizona. The captain reported that Sinclair, one of the soldiers in his command, was sexting an 11-year-old child in Missouri. Sinclair’s fiancée had reported to the captain earlier the same day that she had screenshots between herself and Sinclair in which Sinclair admitted to “cheating” on her with an 11-year-old child, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri.
The child victim told investigators that she had sent Sinclair multiple pornographic videos and images of herself via Snapchat at Sinclair’s request. Sinclair admitted that he also sent pornographic images of himself to the child victim via Snapchat, the release said.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie L. Wan. It was investigated by the Joplin Police Department, the FBI, the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, the Lamar, Missouri, Police Department, the Sierra Vista, Arizona, Police Department, and the Chanute Police Department.
