Columbia man indicted by federal grand jury for child sex crimes
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A Columbia man was indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday in Jefferson City for child sex crimes.
William Lee Nichols, 53, was charged in the indictment with sexual exploitation of a minor child, using a child to prodice child porn and distributing child porn, all of which allegedly occurred from June 1, 2019-March 15, 2023.
Nichols is also charged in Boone County with child enticement, two counts of second-degree statutory rape, three counts of second-degree statutory sodomy and three counts of child porn possession. Those charges were filed in 2023.
He is accused of sexually assaulting a girl for multiple years from 2019-21.
The Boone County Sheriff’s Office Cyber Crimes Task Force received a report from the National Center for Missouri and Exploited Children on Nov. 3, 2022, according to court documents in previous reporting. The complaint was sent from Yahoo, claiming that on Aug. 2, 2023, a user sent four images of nude children younger than 12 years old to another Yahoo user.
When a search warrant was executed on March 16, 2023, he allegedly admitted to being associated with the Yahoo email address associated with the report, the probable cause statement says.
Nichols is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond. A hearing is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Monday, Feb. 3.
