Hattiesburg, Miss.  – A Wiggins man pled guilty to transporting visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, announced U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca and Special Agent in Charge Jermicha Fomby of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Mississippi.

According to court documents, Charles Ezekiel Spangler, 38, was identified by the FBI when they received information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that he uploaded pictures of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct via the internet to his Tumblr account in June of  2018.

Spangler is scheduled to be sentenced on March 8, 2022, at 9:30 a.m. in Hattiesburg, and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the case with the assistance of the Mississippi Attorney General’s Cyber Crimes Division.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Jones is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc.