Kansas man gets 25-year prison sentence for child porn, indecent solicitation of child in Pike County

PITTSFIELD, Ill. — A Kansas man pled guilty on Friday to seven charges of child pornography and indecent solicitation of a child in Pike County and will spend 25 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Justin Lee Howard Richards-Olby, 22, of Wellington, Kan., appeared with Public Defender Rick Zimmerman in Pike County Circuit Court before Judge Charles H.W. Burch on Friday.

Richards-Olby was charged with five counts of indecent solicitation of a child, a Class 1 felony, and two counts of child pornography, a class X felony. Burch sentenced him to 10-year sentences, which will be served concurrently, on each indecent solicitation count and on one of the child pornography counts. He was sentenced to 15 years on the other child pornography count, which must be served consecutively to the other sentences.

The Pike County Sheriff’s Department received on Feb. 29 a complaint of indecent solicitation of a child, sexual exploitation of a child, grooming and child pornography. A couple discovered their child under the age of 13 had been communicating with an adult male for several months through various social media websites.  

The case was assigned to Zach Orr, chief deputy with the Pike County Sheriff’s Department and a member of the Illinois Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. Orr took over the messaging between the victim and the suspect. He elicited identifying information from the suspect, who still believed he was messaging the victim. 

Multiple search warrants were obtained and executed to identify the suspect. Upon receiving information obtained from the search warrants, Orr deconflicted the information through the ICAC database and observed numerous open cases involving the suspect for possession and dissemination of child pornography in Kansas. 

Orr identified the suspect and obtained an arrest warrant for him in Pike County. The investigation led Orr and Zach Hardin, a deputy with the Sumner County (Kan.) Sheriff’s Department, Wellington, Kan.

Orr met with members of the Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the Wellington Police Department, where law enforcement officials tracked the suspect to an apartment in Wellington.  

Law enforcement officials took Richards-Olby into custody without incident on March 13. Orr continued the investigation and executed a search warrant at the apartment, where additional electronic devices were located and seized.  

Upon waiving extradition, Richards-Olby was transported to the Pike County Jail.

Assisting with the investigation were:

• Children’s Advocacy Center, Pittsfield,
• Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office,
• Kansas ICAC Task Force,
• Wellington (Kan.) Police Department,
• Sumner County (Kan.) Sheriff’s Department,
• U.S. Department of Homeland Security,
• Wichita (Kan.) Police Department,
• Jacksonville Police Department, 
• Pike County State’s Attorney’s Office.