A Palm Beach County judge has sentenced a Kansas teacher to three and one-half years in prison after the man pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor through an online video app.
Alexander David Morris, 35, of the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park entered the plea during a hearing on July 7 before Circuit Judge Scott Suskauer.
Morris also pleaded guilty to one count of transmitting harmful materials to the minor, a 14-year-old who lives in Boca Raton, and Suskauer issued an order declaring Morris to be a sex offender.
Morris’ pleas came six months after he was transferred to Florida from Kansas, where he is serving prison time in a separate child solicitation case.
Prosecutors: Man threatened to share illicit photos, videos of teen
Boca Raton police alleged that in November 2021, Morris posed as a teen while using the Omegle online video chat app and solicited the child. Investigators say Morris pretended to be 17 years old and requested that the 14-year-old send him naked photos and videos.
When the teen complied, Morris threatened to share the photos and videos if the teen did not send more. The teen’s mother learned about the photos and videos months later and informed police.
Investigators tracked an online username provided by the accuser to an account in Kansas that belonged to Morris. A review of files recovered from his iPad showed about 75 images of the teen in various states of undress.
According to published reports, Morris taught math at a high school in Kansas. Authorities there arrested him in September 2022 on five counts of sexual exploitation of a child. In November 2023, a judge sentenced Morris to nearly three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to two of the five counts.
During the July 7 hearing, Suskauer ordered that Morris’ Florida prison sentence be served concurrently with the one in Kansas. He credited Morris with 20 months of time served while awaiting extradition.
Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: He asked Boca teen for illicit photos from halfway across US. Now 35-year-old will pay the price
Reporting by Julius Whigham II, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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