CAPE GIRARDEAU – A man from Poplar Bluff, Missouri on Friday admitted recording his rape of a minor with an intellectual disability.
Jason R. Hicks-Simpson, 46, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor.
The 17-year-old victim sought help from Hicks-Simpson’s girlfriend in getting the abuse to stop, according to the plea agreement. The girlfriend contacted the victim’s mother, who called the Poplar Bluff Police Department in March of 2024. The victim told investigators that Hicks-Simpson had been sexually abusing her since she was five, the plea says. She also said Hicks-Simpson threatened to kill her and her kittens if she did not keep it a secret.
After his arrest, Hicks-Simpson told police that it had only happened once several months earlier. Investigators found videos dating back to May of 2023 on his phone, the plea agreement says.
Hicks-Simpson is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 31, 2025. As part of the plea agreement, both sides have agreed to recommend 20 years in prison.
The Poplar Bluff Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Hunter is prosecuting the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.