Texas Man Convicted for Exploiting Minor in Charlotte

Rusty Joseph Whittaker, 44, of Austin, Texas, was found guilty by a federal jury in Charlotte for traveling to North Carolina to engage in sexual activity with a minor, as well as for enticing a minor and producing child pornography. Whittaker initially contacted the victim via Antiland, an anonymous chat platform that deletes messages, before moving conversations to Snapchat, another ephemeral messaging app. He pressured the victim into meeting him in person and traveled from Nashville in May 2023 to Charlotte specifically to commit the offenses. Whittaker took advantage of the victim by waiting until her father was asleep, transporting her to a hotel for sexual acts, then leaving her to walk barefoot home. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison, with potential for life without parole, and remains in custody pending sentencing. Authorities emphasized the importance of protecting children from online predators and highlighted the role of FBI victim assistance in supporting the minor.