Jacksboro Man Sentenced to 25 Years for Child Sexual Exploitation

A Jacksboro nurse was sentenced yesterday to 25 years in federal prison for sexually exploiting a 13-year-old girl, announced Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad Meacham.

Stephen Russel Adams, 38, pleaded guilty in June to sexual exploitation of a child. He was sentenced Tuesday by Senior U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means.

According to court documents, Mr. Adams surreptitiously recorded nude images of his 13-year-old victim and posted them on social media. In fall 2020, an undercover agent initiated a chat with Mr. Adams, who sent the agent a nude photo of the child standing in a bathroom.

In the chats, which were introduced into evidence at his sentencing hearing, Mr. Adams claimed he had been groping the child while she slept “for almost 2 years.” He discussed drugging the child with “sleeping pills and muscle relaxers” and even asked the undercover agent if he could obtain “roofies.”

The investigation eventually led to the identification of a cloud account the defendant used to store images of his victim.

Mr. Adams, who was employed as a nurse at an adult residential care facility at the time of the crime, admitted he took surreptitious videos of the child and uploaded them to the cloud account.

“Sexual crimes against children are some of the most repulsive acts we investigate. We are determined to prevent this abuse from happening to minors and will not relent in punishing those who prey on their vulnerability,” said Christopher M. Miller, Homeland Security Investigations Deputy Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Field Office. “It is because of our collaborative law enforcement approach in prosecuting this case that Mr. Adams is facing a lengthy sentence for his crimes of child exploitation. The conclusion of this case removes a dangerous predator off the street, and hopefully provides a measure of closure and comfort to the victim.”

Homeland Security Investigations’ Dallas Field Office conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Wise County District Attorney’s Office, the Jack County Sheriff’s Office, the Jacksboro Police Department, and Homeland Security Investigations’ Detroit Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Aisha Saleem prosecuted the case.