Former Prosecutor Sentenced for Producing Child Porn
William Power McCaughan, a Miami attorney and former prosecutor, has been sentenced to 190 months in prison after pleading guilty to producing child sex abuse material. Photo credit: LinkedIn.
Prosecutors said that McCaughan had sexual conversations with at least two children and solicited a child to send him explicit photos.
Anonymous Application
McCaughan used Kik Messenger to chat with other users, including minors. The high-profile arrest of Thomas Paul Keeler II previously brought to attention the fact that the messaging application had 200 chat groups dedicated to sharing child pornography, according to a 2022 Forbes article.
Kik manages privacy differently from other messaging apps, which is why it might be chosen by users interested in illegal content like child pornography.
Users register by providing their name, date of birth and an email address. Once a user name is issued, that’s the only way the app can track that user’s activity. If law enforcement wishes to subpoena conversation history from Kik, they need to know the username of the person, according to Kik’s Law Enforcement Guide. The company also does not keep transcripts of activity, meaning that cops would have to have the user’s device itself to see messages and other media exchanged.
Explicit Exchanges and Conversations Led to McCaughan’s Arrest
McCaughan received an explicit video in which an 11-year-old girl exits the shower via the Kik app, say prosecutors. That photo was uploaded by the child’s uncle. His arrest ultimately led to the arrest and charging of McCaughan.
As stated in the complaint, McCaughan, whose nickname on this platform was “wmccaugh,” wrote in a conversation with the Texas man, “I delete everything after a day or two. I get paranoid about my phone getting lost and someone looking through it or something like that.” In another conversation, he listed “a variety of sexual acts he wanted to perform” on the girl.
Sting Operation
After that, the FBI began its investigation regarding McCaughan. An undercover FBI agent initiated a conversation with McCaughan that lasted about a week.
During the conversation, that FBI agent claimed that he had “access to files featuring sexual content depicting children” to which “wmccaugh” responded that he was interested.
Later, McCaughan wrote that he feels “frustration that sex was treated as private and taboo and off limits to kids” while adding that he believed lots of kids are “horny and curios” from a young age and that “even if they aren’t or don’t like it a lot, they need to learn.”
Plea Agreement
In his plea agreement, McCaughan agreed to register as a sex offender after he serves his sentence and to inform the authorities about any change in his name, address, or mailing address.
McCaughan’s Legal Background
According to his Florida bar profile, McCaughan was admitted to practice law in Florida in 2007 and was working in a firm called Coral Gables at the time he was arrested. His license was revoked in December 2023.
Project Safe Childhood
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative uniting law enforcement entities nationwide to combat crimes against children.
Anyone with information regarding suspected child abuse, exploitation and sextortion should call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.
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