Ex-teacher gets 30 years for enticing kids to send images

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A former southwest Missouri high school teacher has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for enticing children nationwide to send him sexually suggestive images and then threatening to distribute them.

Brandon Lane McCullough, 31, of Branson, was sentenced Tuesday. He pleaded guilty in August 2021 to three counts of the sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of coercing and enticing a minor to engage in illicit sexual activity.

After serving 30 years without parole, he will be on lifetime supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $204,199 in restitution to one of his victims, the Springfield News-Leader reported.

At the time of the crimes, McCullough was a business teacher at Cassville High School, 60 miles (100 kilometers) southwest of Springfield, Missouri.

Federal officials said he posed as a teenager online to entice young victims across the country to send him explicit images. He would then threaten to share the images on social media unless they sent him more explicit images and videos, they said.

So far, 11 victims have been identified but many more have not been identified, U.S. Attorney Teresa Moore said in a statement.

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