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Public Safety, Virginia

Virginia man sentenced to 102 months for using Kik to share child abuse images

Crystal Graham
person at computer keyboard
(© dikushin – stock.adobe.com)

A Danville man used the Kik online messaging application to communicate and share child abuse images with an undercover law enforcement officer.

William Allen Wolf, 46, was sentenced to 102 months in federal prison. He pled guilty in November to possession with intent to view a visual depiction of a minor under 12 years of age engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

According to court documents, in December 2021, a law enforcement officer acting in an undercover capacity entered a public group on Kik Messenger where users were known to regularly share information and images of child abuse, and Wolf was already a member.

The undercover officer purported to have two prepubescent daughters.

On Dec. 6, 2022, Wolf initiated a Kik conversation with the undercover officer telling him that he was a member of the group because he enjoyed training children for sexual activity.

Wolf then sent the undercover officer a video depicting an adult male engaged in sexual activity with a prepubescent female under 12 years of age.

Wolf continued to send the undercover officer additional videos during their online conversations.

The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identity and rescue victims.

For information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.

Crystal Graham

Crystal Graham

Crystal Abbe Graham is the regional editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1999 graduate of Virginia Tech, she has worked for nearly 25 years as a reporter and editor for several Virginia publications, written a book, and garnered more than a dozen Virginia Press Association awards for writing and graphic design. She was the co-host of "Viewpoints," a weekly TV news show, and co-host of Virginia Tonight, a nightly TV news show. Her work on "Virginia Tonight" earned her a national Telly award for excellence in television.