Show-Me State Times

U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp sentenced James Donald Goings, a 36-year-old man from Overland, Missouri, to 168 months in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release. Goings was convicted for possessing child sexual abuse material and engaging in sexual contact with a teenager he met online.

Judge Schelp also mandated that Goings pay $12,000 to the victims identified in the child sexual abuse material he possessed.

In March, Goings pleaded guilty to one felony count of receipt of child pornography. He admitted to having 2,500 images containing child sexual abuse material on his computer and 190 images in his Google account. Additionally, Goings traveled to Illinois to have sexual contact with a 15-year-old he met through Grindr, according to his plea agreement. Another victim reported that during video calls, Goings instructed him to perform specific sexual acts.

The case was investigated by the St. Louis County Police Department and the Edwardsville (Illinois) Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nathan Chapman and Erin Granger.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse. The project utilizes federal, state, and local resources to locate and prosecute individuals who exploit children online while also identifying and rescuing victims.