A Trussville man has been indicted on federal child sexual exploitation and child pornography charges, prosecutors announced Friday.

Dakota Dale Ray Wilcox, 21, was charged with four counts of sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography, said U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Prim F. Escalone and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations Acting Special Agent in Charge Travis Picard.

Wilcox allegedly committed the offenses in St. Clair County between May 2021 and February 2023.

He faces up to 30 years in federal prison if convicted of the sexual exploitation charges and 20 years in prison if convicted of the child pornography charge.

The case against Wilcox was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Project Safe Childhood is led by U.S. attorneys’ offices and the DOJ Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS). The project uses federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute people who exploit children via the Internet and to help identify and rescue victims.

People who suspect a child of being a victim of exploitation were urged to call the Homeland Security Investigations Tip Line at 1-866-347-2423 and fill out the online NCMEC CyberTipline form here.