Adams sentenced to 25 years for child sexual exploitation

A Jacksboro nurse was sentenced Tuesday, Oct. 5 to 25 years in federal prison for sexually exploiting a 13-year-old female, according to a press release from acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad Meacham.

Stephen Russell Adams, 38, pleaded guilty in June to sexual exploitation of a child. He was sentenced Wednesday, Oct. 6 by senior U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means.

According to court documents, Adams surreptitiously recorded nude images of his 13-year-old victim and posted them on social media. In Fall 2020, an undercover agent initiated a chat with Adams, who sent the agent a nude photo of the child standing in a bathroom.

In the chats, which were introduced into evidence at his sentencing hearing, Adams claimed he had been groping the child while she slept “for almost 2 years.” He discussed drugging the child with “sleeping pills and muscle relaxers” and even asked the undercover agent if he could obtain “roofies.”

The investigation eventually led to the identification of a cloud account the defendant used to store images of his victim.
Adams, who was employed as a nurse at an adult residential care facility at the time of the crime, admitted he took surreptitious videos of the child and uploaded them to the cloud account.

James Stainton, 271st Judicial District Attorney, said the case was pending when he was appointed to the position in January 2021.

“We worked with the (Jacksboro) PD and (Jack County) Sheriff’s Department on investigating the case and determined it was a good time to go to the feds with it,” Stainton explained. “He won’t get out until he’s 55-58 years old.”

For the full story, see the Wednesday, Oct. 20 edition of the Jacksboro Herald-Gazette.