A Plaza Middle School teacher has been charged in federal court on attempted child exploitation charges.
Richard Villigram, 43, of Kansas City, was charged in a two-count criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City on Wednesday, April 22
The federal complaint charges Villigram with one count of Attempted use of Interstate Facility to Entice a Minor to Engage in Illegal Sexual Activity and one count of Attempted Receipt of Child Pornography.
According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Villigram, over the course of several days, engaged in online communications with an undercover law enforcement officer who was posing online as a 15-year-old minor. During his communications with the person he believed to be a minor, Villigram arranged to meet that individual to engage in sexual conduct and also asked them to send him pornographic images. Villigram was later arrested on April 21 after he arrived at the location he had arranged to meet the minor to engage in sexual conduct.
A subsequent search of Villigram’s cell phone by law enforcement located text messages between Villigram and the purported minor. Also located were messages from Villigram to a third person stating, in sexually graphic terms, that he was trying to meet someone to engage in sexual contact. Villigram later told law enforcement officers that he was referring to the purported minor in those text messages.
Villigram is currently in federal custody.The charges contained in this complaint are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Luna. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department.