Former MS Coast police sergeant sentenced to 30 years in prison for making child porn

A former Picayune police sergeant on Wednesday was sentenced to 30 years in prison for producing child porn.

Following his release from prison, Joshua Christopher Stockstill, 29, will be under supervised released for the rest of his life. In addition, he was ordered to pay a $10,000 restitution to the victim under the Amy, Vicky and Andy Child Pornography Assistance Act of 2018.

Stockstill, of Carriere, pleaded guilty in November 2021 to convincing the minor to make a sexually explicit video in November 2018 in Pearl River County, according to the U.S Attorney’s Office and Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Stockstill was arrested at the Picayune Police Department and fired from his job in July 2021.

The arrest came hours after the FBI released a photo in a child exploitation case and sought the public’s help in identifying Stockstill, described in the news release as “John Doe 44.”

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the FBI in Gulfport worked together to identified Stockstill as the producer of the video.

The case was the result of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice aiming to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.

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

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Jones prosecuted the case in Gulfport.