A Kansas man, Taylor Mullen, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for his involvement in manufacturing child sexual abuse materials. Mullen, aged 33, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit sexual exploitation of a child. He is the fourth individual sentenced in a series of cases connected to conspiracies led by Joel Womochil, 39, from Manhattan, Kansas.
According to court documents, Mullen, along with his girlfriend Jessica Quave, created videos in 2021 of sexually explicit acts involving a child under the age of six. These materials were sent to Womochil, who is central to the conspiracies. Womochil himself pleaded guilty and has received a sentence of 720 months in prison.
Quave, 38, also pleaded guilty to the same charge as Mullen and received the same prison sentence of 30 years. Another linked conspiracy took place in 2019, involving Womochil and Denise Renee Sandman, 40, from Indiana. Sandman created images of a child under five in sexually explicit conduct, which she shared with Womochil. She has been sentenced to 720 months following her guilty plea to conspiracy and sexual exploitation charges.
Acting U.S. Attorney Duston Slinkard acknowledged the efforts of the authorities, stating, “We are grateful to the Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations for securing the overwhelming evidence against these child predators which led to guilty pleas and ultimately long prison sentences for their crimes.”
The Butler County Sheriff’s Office, the Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation. The prosecution was led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly Gordon.
This case falls under Project Safe Childhood, an initiative by the Department of Justice aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse. Launched in 2006, the project coordinates the efforts of federal, state, and local resources to pursue and prosecute individuals exploiting children online.
For more details on Project Safe Childhood, visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.