On Feb. 29, 2024, the Illinois Pike County Sheriff’s Department received a complaint of indecent solicitation of a child, sexual exploitation of a child, grooming, and child pornography.
The parents of a child under the age of 13 discovered their child had been communicating with an adult male for several months through various social media websites.
The case was assigned to Chief Deputy Zack Orr, a member of the Illinois Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Orr took over the messaging between the victim and the suspect. Orr was successfully able to elicit identifying information from the suspect, who still believed he was messaging the victim.
Multiple search warrants were obtained and executed to identify the suspect. Upon receiving information obtained from the search warrants, Orr deconflicted the information through the ICAC database and observed numerous open cases involving the suspect for possession and dissemination of child pornography in the State of Kansas.
Orr then identified the suspect and obtained an arrest warrant for him in Pike County, Ill.
The investigation led Orr and Deputy Zach Hardin to Wellington, Sumner County, Kan.
Orr met with members of the Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the Wellington, Kan., Police Department, where law enforcement officials tracked the suspect to an apartment located in the 800 block of Woodlawn in Wellington.
On March 13, 2024, at 9:15 a.m., law enforcement officials took Justin Lee Howard Richards-Olby, age 22, of Wellington, Kan., into custody without incident. Richards-Olby was transported to the Sumner County Jail.
Orr continued the investigation and executed a search warrant at the apartment, where additional electronic devices were located and seized.
Upon waiving extradition, Richards-Olby was transported to the Pike County Jail, where he remains lodged.
Richards Olby is charged with the following offenses in Pike County, Ill., Count 1: Indecent Solicitation of a Child, a class 1 felony; Count 2: Indecent Solicitation of a Child, a class 1 felony; Count 3: Indecent Solicitation of a Child, a class 1 felony; Count 4: Indecent Solicitation of a Child, a class 1 felony; Count 5: Indecent Solicitation of a Child, a class 1 felony; Count 6: Child Pornography, a class X felony; Count 7; and Child Pornography, a class X felony.
Based on a forensic examination of Richards-Olby’s electronic devices, additional charges are pending.
“As a parent, it is very easy to become complacent with your child and their use of social media,” Orr said. “Parents must check their children’s cellular phones and electronics to see what they are doing. This case was difficult to work on based on what the suspect said he was going to do to the victim. The suspect, on more than one occasion, told the victim he was going to ‘kidnap’ her and ‘force impregnation.’ The messages sent from the suspect to the victim were some of the most disturbing, horrific, and vile messages I have seen in my 25 years of law enforcement.”
The following entities assisted with the investigation: Children’s Advocacy Center, Pittsfield, Ill.; Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office; Kansas ICAC Task Force; Wellington, Kan., Police Department; Sumner County, Kan., Sheriff’s Office; U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Wichita, Kan., Police Department.
All suspect(s) are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.