STARKVILLE – A Starkville teenager has been charged with four counts of child exploitation.
Nicholas Randle, 18, was arrested Wednesday, with the classification of dissemination of sexually oriented material to persons under the age of 18, according to a Thursday press release from the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office.
OCSO Capt. Brett Watson said the sheriff’s office received a report on Wednesday regarding images being distributed to various people. He said he was not at liberty to discuss the method used to distribute those images, as it is part of the ongoing investigation.
Broadly, state law considers child exploitation to include causing or soliciting sexually explicit conduct from a child or causing, soliciting, recording, sending, receiving or knowingly possessing sexually explicit materials involving a child.
State law says any person who commits child exploitation is guilty of a felony, and if convicted, a guilty party can be fined between $50,000 and $500,000 and imprisoned between five and 40 years. Subsequent violations are punishable by a fine between $100,000 and $1 million and between 20 years and life in prison.
Randle is being held at the Oktibbeha County Jail on a bond of $80,000. The investigation is ongoing, and more arrests are expected, the release said.
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