A former deputy from the Phelps County Sheriff’s Office has confessed to multiple charges involving sexual acts with minors and child pornography. Justin Bradley Durham, 43, residing in Rolla, admitted guilt in a U.S. District Court in St. Louis on Thursday. He faces one count of production of child pornography, two counts of receiving child pornography, and three counts of destroying records related to a federal investigation.
As part of his plea agreement, Durham acknowledged that he requested and obtained a sexually explicit video from a 16-year-old in 2013 and paid her $200 after engaging in sex acts with her. He also confessed to having sex with a 17-year-old victim on several occasions, including encounters in his patrol vehicle. Additionally, he exchanged sexually explicit content with this victim, whom he met when responding to a police call initiated by her friend in 2016.
In 2023, the FBI interviewed Durham after discovering that his PayPal account was linked to transactions involving the sale of child pornography. Although he denied purchasing such material and claimed not to have accessed his Dropbox account for years, he refused agents’ requests to search his cell phone. Subsequently, Durham destroyed evidence by purchasing a new phone and deleting approximately 37 gigabytes of data from his Dropbox account before deactivating it.
Following these actions, which included destroying files containing child sexual abuse material, Durham was terminated by the Sheriff’s Department on August 9, 2023. He was later arrested and admitted during an interview with FBI agents that he had also destroyed other electronic devices as part of what he described as a “digital footprint scrub.”
Durham’s sentencing is scheduled for February 5, 2025. The charge for producing child pornography carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years imprisonment while receiving such material has a five-year mandatory minimum sentence.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Bateman following investigations conducted by the FBI and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
This legal action forms part of Project Safe Childhood—an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse through coordinated efforts among federal, state, and local agencies.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood initiatives or resources available through this program visit www.justice.gov/psc.
