Travis J. Varble, 42, has been sentenced to more than 33 years in federal prison and a lifetime 

term of supervised release for live streaming the sexual abuse of a child, United States Attorney 

Steven D. Weinhoeft announced today.

“It is difficult to imagine much that is more reprehensible than molesting a child, but Mr. Varble 

found a way to aggravate his deviance by live streaming the abuse over the internet for other 

depraved individuals to view. This case highlights the fact that child pornography isn’t a crime 

involving anonymous images on the internet. Rather, each image represents a real person, a child, 

being overpowered by an adult who knows better. And we will prosecute these cases as aggressively 

as the law allows,” said US Attorney Steve Weinhoeft.

Varble was caught after law enforcement officials in Auburn, Ala. conducting an unrelated 

investigation discovered a recorded video containing child pornography. The perpetrator and child 

victim depicted in the video were unidentified, so officers forwarded the evidence to the National 

Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in an effort to identify the victim and/or 

assailant depicted in the video.

NCMEC is supported by a number of law enforcement partners, including Homeland Security 

Investigations (HSI), which is the criminal investigative arm of U.S. Immigration & Customs 

Enforcement (ICE). ICE, through HSI, operates the National Child Victim Identification System 

(NCVIS). The NCVIS uses advanced analytics to identify and rescue child victims as well as identify 

and prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), investigated the video recovered in Auburn, Ala. and found 

evidence suggesting that the sexual abuse may have taken place in Southern Illinois. HSI 

investigators in St. Louis were assigned and determined that the perpetrator was Travis Varble, of 

Alton, Ill. HSI also discovered a second video of Varble sexually abusing the same child. HSI 

learned that Varble live streamed his sexual abuse while the exploitation occurred, and

that others viewing the live stream recorded the abuse and further distributed the recorded videos

on the internet.

Evidence at sentencing established that the victim was under the age of 12, and that Varble

had been providing care to the child at the time when the abuse took place.

US Attorney Steve Weinhoeft said, “We praise the work done by Homeland Security Investigations 

(HSI) and their National Child Victim Identification System (NCVIS) for their efforts on this 

particular case, and for their ongoing effort to rescue child victims and identify those who commit 

these awful crimes.”

During the investigation, agents learned that Varble had been separately prosecuted in Madison 

County, Ill., for sexually abusing same victim. Varble was sentenced to a 17-year prison sentence 

in Danville Correctional Center for predatory criminal sexual assault of a victim under 13 and 

aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a victim under 13 in the state court prosecution.

Varble was indicted federally in the United States District Court for the Southern District of 

Illinois on March 21, 2018, for two counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor (Counts 1 and 2) and 

one count of Distribution of Child Pornography (Count 3). He pleaded guilty on January 17, 2019, 

and was sentenced on August 1, 2019, to 398 months in federal prison, which is to be followed by a 

lifetime term of supervised release on each count.

United States District Court Judge Staci M. Yandle handed down the sentence. The sentence she 

imposed was initially calculated at 444 months; however, Judge Yandle gave Varble credit for 46 

months that he had already served in state prison for related criminal conduct, thereby resulting 

in a 398-month sentence. The federal prison term was ordered to run concurrently with the state 

sentence Varble is currently serving.

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. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation 

and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to 

locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, and to identify and 

rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. 

For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on 

the tab “resources.”

The case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security

Investigations. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Angela Scott.

 

 

Travis J. Varble, 42, of Alton, Illinois, has pleaded guilty to producing and distributing child pornography using a minor identified in court documents as "K.M." The offenses were committed between December 2012 and December 2013 in Madison County, Illinois. Varble is currently in state custody at the Danville Correctional Center serving a 17-year sentence for predatory criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a minor under 13 years old.

According to the stipulation of facts agreed to by the parties, on at least two occasions, Varble employed, persuaded, induced, enticed, or coerced K.M. to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of that conduct. Varble then streamed the two explicit videos of K.M. over the internet to another individual.

Varble’s sentencing is scheduled for April 25, 2019, in Benton, Illinois. He faces 15 to 30 years in prison on counts one and two (production of child pornography), and 5 to 20 years on count three (the distribution charge). All three counts also carry a fine of up to $250,000, and the possibility of a lifetime term of supervised release.

The case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant United States Attorney Angela Scott is prosecuting the case.