Tulsa Man Pleads Guilty to Sexual Exploitation and Extortion of a Minor

TULSA, Okla.— A Tulsa man pleaded guilty today to sexual exploitation of a child and extortion, announced United States Attorney Danny C. Williams Sr. of the Northern District of Oklahoma.

Christopher Lee Gunkel, 30, was indicted on May 3, 2016, and sentencing is scheduled for September 21, 2016.

According to court documents, Gunkel admitted to coercing a 14-year-old girl to send him sexually explicit photos and videos from January to November 2014. Gunkel admitted to threatening to distribute the sexually explicit images of the 14-year-old girl to her family and friends if she refused to send more naked and sexually explicit images of herself to him.

At the time of sentencing, Gunkel faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years imprisonment and a mandatory maximum sentence of 30 years imprisonment.  

The Federal Bureau of Investigation was the investigating agency. Assistant United States Attorney Andrew J. Hofland 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, 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.

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