Former Phelps County deputy pleads guilty to federal child porn crimes
ROLLA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A former Phelps County Sheriff’s Deputy pleaded guilty on Thursday in federal court to child sex crimes, a release from the Department of Justice says.
The release says Justin Bradley Durham, 43, of Rolla, admitted to “engaging in sex acts with a minor, requesting and receiving child pornography and destroying evidence to impede the FBI.”
He pleaded guilty in the Missouri Eastern District Court in St. Louis to one count of production of child pornography, two counts of receiving child pornography and three counts of destroying records in a federal investigation.
Durham will be sentenced on Feb. 5, 2025. He admitted that he requested and received explicit videos from a youth in 2013 and paid them money to engage in sex acts with him, the release says.
Durham was arrested by the Sheriff’s Office in August 2023.
Durham has several active court cases in Phelps County. In one case, he was charged with first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy. He pleaded not guilty in that case earlier this week and a jury trial was scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 7.
He was charged with first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy in another case. He was charged with possessing child pornography in another case.
He was also charged with second-degree child sex trafficking and child porn possession in another case that is set to go to trial at 8:30 a.m. Monday, March 10, 2025. A pretrial conference in that case is scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 6.
