Mississippi Man Convicted by Federal Jury of Conspiring to Distribute Child Sexual Abuse Material for Profit on Instagram and Telegram
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on October 14 that David Plunk, 57, of McComb, Mississippi, was convicted by a federal jury in the Western District of Pennsylvania after a four-day trial of conspiring to distribute and receive child sexual abuse material (CSAM) for pecuniary gain, and of conspiracy to make a false statement. The jury returned the guilty verdict on October 9 in Pittsburgh.
According to evidence presented at trial, Plunk and his co-conspirators used social media platforms including Instagram and Telegram, over the course of multiple years, to sell and trade hundreds of files of child sexual abuse material, profiting by more than $57,000.
"David Plunk, along with his co-conspirators, sold child sexual exploitation material on social media, making tens of thousands of dollars while turning a blind eye to the suffering of others for far too long," said Acting United States Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman. "This prosecution should be a lesson to other potential predators that we will not tolerate the sexual exploitation of children."
Assistant United States Attorneys Rebecca L. Silvaz and Stephen P. Howell and Trial Attorney Alyssa Shuman of the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section prosecuted the case. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Pennsylvania State Police conducted the investigation.
Sentencing is scheduled for January 26, 2027, at 11:00 a.m. The Department also disclosed that Plunk was previously convicted in the Western District of Pennsylvania in 2016 of receiving and possessing child pornography, for which he was sentenced to 50 months in prison.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 位于匹兹堡的约瑟夫·F·韦斯 Jr. 美国法院大楼（本案审理地，资料图）。Tony Webster／Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 2.0
