Prosecutors said Rusty Joseph Whittaker, 44, traveled to Charlotte from Nashville while attending a conference.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. β Editor’s note: This story discusses child sexual exploitation. While nothing is described in detail, reader discretion is advised.
A Texas man was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in federal prison for traveling to North Carolina to sexually exploit a child, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina announced.
Rusty Joseph Whittaker, 44, of Austin, was also ordered to serve 10 years of supervised release following his prison term and to register as a sex offender. A federal jury convicted Whittaker in September 2025 following a four-day trial.
Senior U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney, Jr., imposed the sentence, saying the case “involves planning and manipulation of a child” and that “the word needs to go out that we won’t put up with this.”
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Whittaker first contacted the victim through Antiland, an online platform that provides users anonymity and automatically deletes messages and shared content. He then moved the conversation to Snapchat, which also automatically deletes messages, and used those platforms along with online payment services to solicit and view sexually explicit images and videos of the minor while pressuring her to meet him in person.
On May 20, 2023, Whittaker traveled from Nashville, Tennessee, where he was attending a conference, to Charlotte to meet the victim. Trial evidence showed he waited for the minor’s father to fall asleep, then picked her up from her home, drove her to a hotel, and engaged in sexual activity with her. Afterward, he provided the victim items of value before dropping her off some distance from her home, leaving her to walk back barefoot.
“Predators like Rusty Whittaker are a parent’s worst nightmare,” U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson said in a statement. “This defendant traveled across state lines to exploit a child, used technology to conceal his crimes, and inflicted long-lasting trauma on a vulnerable victim.”
The FBI investigated the case with assistance from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Cervantes is prosecuting the case.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative launched in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Whittaker remains in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending transfer to a federal prison facility.
If you or a loved one is facing domestic violence, help is readily available. You can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or text START to 88788. Resources for help are available in both North Carolina and South Carolina.
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