Alton Man Sentenced to Lengthy Federal Prison Term for Sexually Abusing Child

An Alton resident has been sentenced to more than 30 years in federal prison for live-streaming the sexual abuse of a child.

US Attorney Steven Weinhoeft said 42-year-old Travis J. Varble 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.

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.

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 Varble. 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.