Kanawha County Man Pleads Guilty to Producing Child Pornography

Defendant faces up to 30 years in federal prison and up to life on federal supervised release

BECKLEY, W.Va. – A Kanawha County man pled guilty today to a child pornography crime, announced United States Attorney Mike Stuart. Robert Daniel Mullins, 37, of South Charleston, entered his guilty plea to production of child pornography.  The investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations, the West Virginia State Police, the Australian Federal Police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Toronto Police Service.

“Unconscionable,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart.  “Pedophiles like Mullins belong in prison and away from our children.” 

Mullins admitted that between August 5, 2017, and February 18, 2018, he took several sexually explicit photographs of a toddler, at least one of which depicted sexual contact between Mullins and the minor. Mullins further admitted that he distributed at least two of the sexually explicit images of the toddler to others via the messaging service Kik. In addition to producing and distributing these images of child pornography, Mullins also admitted to using the Kik messaging service to exchange child pornography with users in Canada and Australia, and he further admitted that he had offered to take sexually explicit photographs of minors to send to the individual in Australia.

Mullins faces at least 15 and up to 30 years in federal prison when he is sentenced on October 11, 2018. Upon his release from prison, he will be required to serve a term of supervised release of at least five years and up to life. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.

Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Rada Herrald is in charge of the prosecution. The plea hearing was held before United States District Judge Irene C. Berger.

This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative of the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s 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 those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

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