Iron County Man Gets Maximum Sentence in Federal Court for Child Pornography

(Cape Girardeau) The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Samuel J. Gillam of Iron County has been sentenced to serve 20 years in federal prison for receiving child pornography.

The 37-year-old appeared for his sentencing hearing Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau.

According to court documents, police interviewed a 16-year-old female during a sexual abuse investigation and discovered, among other things, that she sent sexually explicit images of herself to Gillam.

Investigators subsequently seized Gillam’s phone and found the images.

At his guilty plea hearing in February, Gillam admitted he received the images from the teenager.

During sentencing, Judge Stephen Limbaugh said the aggravated nature of Gillam’s conduct, including the fact that he had been sexually abusing the minor female, justified the maximum 20-year prison sentence.

After serving his sentence, Gillam will be placed on supervised probation for the rest of his life and will also be required to register as a sex offender.