Shawnee man admits to child sex crimes

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (WIBW) - A Shawnee man admitted to creating pornographic images of children.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Marquis Williams, 31, of Shawnee, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a child in February 2023.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, court documents from May 2021 indicated that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children sent information to the Shawnee Police Department about possible child pornography or solicitations over the Internet. Officials noted that the Shawnee Police Department is a partner in the Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC). The tip stated 230 child pornography images were uploaded to a Dropbox account.

After acquiring a search warrant, the investigation led to Williams, and officers retrieved a cell phone that included 550 images of suspected child pornography. Some of the images were of Williams molesting two children under the age of 12. Williams admitted to investigators that the Dropbox account was his and admitted to sexually assaulting the children.

“The United States Secret Service is proud of the effective partnerships it maintains with the Shawnee Police Department, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the United States Attorney’s Office, whose tireless efforts were instrumental in seeing justice served in this case,” said Kansas City Field Office Special Agent in Charge Brandon Bridgeforth. “We can think of no greater outcome than this sentence in protecting our children from predators such as Marquis Williams.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office officials noted that the Shawnee Police Department, U.S. Secret Service, and the Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force investigated the case.

Additionally, Assistant U.S. Attorney Faiza Alhambra prosecuted the case.