Ex-South MS police officer pleads guilty to filming child porn on cell phone

Former Picayune police Sgt. Joshua Christopher Stockstill faces up to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to producing a video on his cell phone of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

Stockstill, who is from Carriere, coaxed the minor into making the video in November 2018 in Pearl River County, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The FBI in Gulfport identified Stockstill, 29, as the video’s producer after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children became aware of the it.

Stockstill is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 24 in U.S. District Court in Gulfport. In addition to a prison sentence, he faces a lifetime on supervised release and a maximum fine of $250,000.

Stockstill was arrested at the police department and fired from his job in July, after the FBI asked for assistance identifying him based on a photo that NCMEC produced from video of Stockstill shown with a child.

Anita Lee

Sun Herald

601-909-0638

Anita, a Mississippi native, graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and previously worked at the Jackson Daily News and Virginian-Pilot, joining the Sun Herald in 1987. She specializes in in-depth coverage of government, public corruption, transparency and courts. She has won state, regional and national journalism awards, most notably contributing to Hurricane Katrina coverage awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service. Support my work with a digital subscription