Mississippi police officer arrested by FBI in child exploitation case

PICAYUNE, Miss. (WLOX) - A sergeant in the Picayune Police Department is no longer employed after being arrested this week by the FBI.

Joshua Stockstill was fired Wednesday just after being taken into custody by federal agents in connection to a sexual exploitation investigation, confirmed Police Chief Freddy Drennan. He was employed for six years with the department.

The FBI announced Wednesday morning that they were trying to identify and locate a man seen with a child in a video. By Thursday morning, the FBI reported that an arrest had been made.

“Once we learned that there was an investigation going on, the police department cooperated 100% with the investigation fully,” said Drennan.

Authorities say the video containing the man and the child was first recorded by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in February 2021. However, data embedded in the video files indicate it was made sometime before November 2018.

According to the FBI, this investigation was part of Operation Rescue Me and Endangered Child Alert Program, known as ECAP. The program focuses on using clues obtained through in-depth image analysis to identify child victims depicted in child exploitation material. ECAP then works to bring exposure to unidentified adults who visibly display their faces or other identifiable characteristics in child pornography images.

Anyone with information about this investigation or any others can submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov, or call the FBI’s toll-free tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324). The public is reminded no charges have been filed in this case, and the pictured individual is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.