Published March 09, 2022

Defendant Sentenced to 160 Years in Louisiana Child Exploitation Case

Louisiana – William Malone, 46, of Mobile, Alabama, was sentenced on March 9, 2022, after being convicted by a jury on child exploitation charges in October 2021, according to United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown. S. Maurice Hicks, Jr., Chief United States District Judge, sentenced Malone to 160 years in prison, followed by a lifetime term of supervised release. Malone was also ordered to pay the victim $206,580.80 in restitution.

Malone was charged on October 7, 2020, by a federal grand jury in Lafayette with five counts of production of child pornography, one count of use of a facility to cause a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity, and one count of possession of child pornography.

Malone lived in Mobile, Alabama, and worked as the captain of a maritime vessel that sailed out of Abbeville in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, according to evidence presented at his trial in Lafayette in October 2021. After receiving complaints that Malone had sexually abused a female under the age of 12, officers with the Mobile Police Department and the Child Advocacy Center launched an investigation. After learning from her daughter that Malone had been sexually abusing her, the minor victim’s mother reported the allegations.

The FBI conducted a forensic examination of the minor victim’s cell phone and discovered evidence that Malone had texted the minor victim and asked her to send him pictures and videos of herself naked as well as other sexually explicit images of herself. Agents also executed a search warrant for Malone’s laptop computer and cell phone onboard the vessel where he was working. Agents discovered the sexually explicit images that the minor victim told law enforcement officers she sent to Malone at his request during a review of Malone’s laptop computer and cell phone. Malone was later arrested and charged.

“The crimes committed by this defendant are shameful,” said U.S. Attorney Brandon B. Brown. “This defendant took advantage of the minor victim in this case who looked up to and trusted him. Instead of respecting that trust she had in him, he tried to intimidate her into staying quiet about the things he was doing to her which were incomprehensible. He showed no remorse for the awful acts he did. But this minor victim had the courage to tell someone what he did to her and today, she stood victorious knowing that he will never hurt another victim in this way again. We will continue to fight for victims who are forever scarred by guilty defendants like this.”

The FBI and the Mobile, Alabama Police Department investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys J. Luke Walker and Craig R. Bordelon, II.

Follow this link to report a typo or other issue.