A former police sergeant was sentenced Wednesday to 360 months in federal prison for producing a video of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

His sentence will be followed by a lifetime of supervised release, and he is ordered to pay restitution to a victim, announced U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca and Special Agent in Charge Jermicha Fomby of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Mississippi.

According to court documents, Joshua Christopher Stockstill, 29, enticed a minor child to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct with his cell phone camera in Pearl River County in November of 2018.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) became aware of the video and other images. On July 14, 2021, with the assistance of NCMEC, the FBI in Gulfport identified then Picayune Police Sergeant Joshua Christopher Stockstill as the producer of the video.

Stockstill pled guilty on November 30, 2021 to producing a video of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

At sentencing, Stockstill was also ordered to pay a $10,000 assessment under the AVVA (Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act) of 2018.

The FBI investigated the case with the assistance of the Mississippi Attorney General’s Cyber Crimes.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.