Influencer Hid Sick Secret for Years

You are absolutely allowed to post. anything that is public record such as. mugsh shots, indictments, court. documents, anything like that, and give. your opinion. What you're not allowed to. do is post anything that is a false. statement that is damaging to someone's. reputation. And I've seen a lot of it, so I'm going to set the record straight. Josh was absolutely upfront with me. about everything in the charges. There. were no secrets. I know everything. I. have been to court. I know everything. An influencer couple built a brand.

around yachts and picture perfect. getaways. But behind their curated. content, Joshua Stapleton was hiding a. disturbing secret. One that just secured. him a 5-year prison sentence for child. sexual exploitation. We are going to. break down the details of this case and. what his wife is now saying in response. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. The Gulf Coast Stapleton social media. accounts portrayed a picture of a couple. living their dream life on the water,

traveling the world, documenting every. envyinducing moment for their 80,000. plus Tik Tok followers. But behind the. glossy Instagram posts and the viral Tik. Tok videos, Joshua David Stapleton was. harboring a terrifying secret. This. week, the 39-year-old influencer was. sentenced to 5 years in prison, followed. by 15 years of probation after pleading. guilty to 20 counts 20 counts of sexual. exploitation of children. Now, the case,

which unfolded over four years, reveals. a disturbing dichotomy between. Stapleton's public persona and his. private actions. The case against. Stapleton started in 2020 when the. Internet Crimes Against Children Task. Force received a tip about suspicious. online activity and the Carterville. Police Department's Criminal. Investigations Division alongside the. GBI, the Georgia Bureau of. Investigation, and the US Department of. Homeland Security launched a multi-year. investigation that would ultimately. bring him to justice. According to court. documents that were obtained by Fox 5.

Atlanta, investigators found that. between December 31st, 2018 and April. 23rd, 2020, quite a significant period. of time there, Joshua Stapleton. downloaded files containing child sexual. abuse material. The arrest affidavit. includes particularly disturbing details. about one image that was uploaded from. his AOL account on New Year's Eve in. 2018. The affidavit says, quote, Stapleton did knowingly, willfully, and. unlawfully have in his or her possession. or control any material which depicts a. minor or a portion of a minor's body.

engaged in any sexually explicit. conduct. Said accused did upload from. his AOL.com account and onto an. electronic device, an explicit photo of. a juvenile appearing to be under the age. of 16, nude and posed in a sexually. explicit manner. said photo was uploaded. on December 31st, 2018 at 6:28 a.m. So, they got those specifics there. We've. been following the story from the. beginning. And you know, one of the. reasons that we can do this to really.

dive into these cases and stories is. because of the amazing support that we. get from our sponsors like Upside. Now, Upside is great. It is a free app that. gets cash back when you buy daily. essentials. So, I pump my gas, I can use. Upside. I go out to lunch, I can use. Upside. get something at a convenience. store. I can use Upside. And why not get. cash back when I do all these things, right? Yes. This is real cash back. It's. money that appears in your Upside app. that you transfer right into your bank. account. So, once you have the free. Upside app, you claim an offer for. whatever you're buying on Upside. You. pay as usual using a debit or credit.

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There's no requirement that the. defendant distributed it to others. So. to be convicted under this specific. section, prosecutors have to prove that. a defendant knowingly had access to or. maintain the illegal material and that. the material shows a minor engaged in. sexual conduct. The penalties under this. statute range from 5 to 20 years in. prison, mandatory sex offender. registration, strict limitations in. internet use and contact with minors. And in Stapleton's case, these legal. consequences would soon become his harsh. reality. And we are going to examine in.

detail when we review his sentencing. But for now, we got to go back to the. arrest affidavit. So, following the. investigation, prosecutors presented. their case to a Barto County Magistrate. judge who swiftly approved the arrest. warrant. In fact, the warrants language. left no room for ambiguity. It reads, "For sufficient cause made known to me. the above affidavit, you are hereby. commanded to arrest the accused Joshua. David Stapleton." And so, on April 24th, 2020, authorities took Stapleton into. custody, booking him into the Barto.

County Jail. Now, while his initial. charges weren't publicly listed in jail. records, reporting reveals that he first. faced 15 counts of child pornography. possession. But honestly, this was just. the beginning because as investigators. dug deeper, the case expanded. dramatically. A grand jury would later. return a 40count indictment for sexual. exploitation of children. But in a. negotiated plea deal, Stapleton. ultimately admitted guilt to 20 counts. in exchange for the remaining charges.

being dropped. And the final sentence. that was handed down by Barto County. Superior Court included 5 years in. prison, 15 years probation, and. mandatory sex offender registration. Okay, to break it all down, let me bring. back here on Sidebar Meg Strickler, Georgia criminal defense attorney. Meg, thanks so much for coming back here. Really appreciate it. >> Thank you for having me. >> Yeah, you got it. So, how typical is it. for a case like this to take? First of. all, let let's start here. 2018 to 2020.

How hard is it to detect that? I mean, is that strange that he could be. engaging in this behavior and having. possession of this material for what, a. 2-year time span? It's actually normal. And I think the word of the day would be. bureaucracy because remember AOL. probably sent some sort of flag to law. enforcement. Law enforcement now needed. to figure out who owned the AOL account. and then who accessed it. So then you. have to do a subpoena to the internet. service provider and then you got to.

execute a search warrant. So it's step. by step by step and unfortunately you. have to have government authorities with. that and it takes time. >> What are the legal thresholds that you. have for the Internet Crimes Against. Children Task Force? What do they have. to meet to justify launching a fullscale. investigation like this? And by the way, the cooperation with other agencies as. well. Yeah, this was involving Homeland. Security and the local internet crimes. against children's unit and uh multiple. authorities. So, normally, like I said,

a flag happens and then a lot of times. they'll learn where these images are. being shared. Is it like on a Discord. account? Is it on some sort of signal. chat? Wherever. And then they usually. get one of those persons who are hanging. out in that chat room, get the uh login. information and then inculpate others. through that. That's one way of doing. it. Other times they simply will execute. a search warrant. They then go into the. person's home and they have software. that says, "Okay, real quick. Do we have. enough and then that'll be enough to. then perhaps issue an arrest that day?".

And then they do a forensic analysis of. the entire hard drive of all the. devices. And then there's a lot more uh. images that then become the subject of. the 40 counts that he was ultimately. indicted with. Now remember real quick, they usually indict for just the ones. that are super obvious. So there are. legal defenses. One of the defenses. could be was she underage? So they'll. find one that's prepubescent to make it. crystal clear for as an example of what. they end up charging with. So there. usually is a lot more than 40 images. I.

mean that's been my experience 100% of. the time. >> And the defense of you know I I didn't. know it was on my computer. I didn't. know it was my my electronic device. Does that ever work? >> Yeah, it can. You have to have Dominion. in control of the account. So, if you. happen to be downloading, now I'm going. to go back a few years, but remember. this whole child pornography concept or. CESAM as it's called now has evolved. because of the internet. Okay? So, when. it first happened, you could download. stuff into temporary folders and you for.

real wouldn't have seen it. Okay? That. is an old defense, right? That doesn't. work anymore because now forensics show. it's like digital footprints. As soon as. it comes down into your hard drive, did. you touch it? Did you see it? It shows. how many times you've gone into the. actual image and looked at it. I mean, the digital footprints are pretty scary. These things are pretty scary. The. celebrate reports are scary. It shows. everything that we've done ever. And. most importantly, and that's another. argument, is if it's in like a chat room. and it was never in your I say chat.

room, you understand. I want to talk. about 2025 terms of art, but I think. that's a good term of art to use as a. generic term. Okay? So whenever you're. in some sort of chat and you didn't have. it shared anywhere but in that chat, you. could use the defense that says, "I. never looked at it." Okay? Then it puts. the onus back on the government to show. that you had dominion and control. And I. smile here because the government is. slow. The government doesn't have the. time, money, and effort always to prove. certain images. So that might be another. reason why some of the images go. bye-bye. But what happened in this case.

is it was his email, his AOL account. I. mean, you were accessing it. It's. usually real obvious because you log in, you look at other emails, you might look. at an email from, you know, Costco or. whatever and it shows. And so, you just. have to show the digital footprints that. he went in, checked his bank account, then went AOL, then looked at this. image. Super easy usually for the. government. M now uh before we get into. how it was a negotiated uh plea deal um.

typically for a case to take you know. four years 5 years from investigation to. sentencing in Georgia is that uncommon. for a case to progress that long. >> Uh again forensics a lot of times you. have to take the devices and send it to. the GBI. A lot of counties don't have. their own forensic group. So you have to. send it to the Georgia Bureau of. Investigation and it's like one place. They've got to deal with the murders, the rapes, the pillagages, whatever. And. so they've got a large case load. So it.

takes a good minute for the forensics to. come back. And remember, they have to. file the technical aspects of whether or. not the image was on the hard drive. Okay? These days, when you download. something, you used to download the. entire image. now is certainly aspects. of the image. So you have to show are. there artifacts on there that are on the. hard drive. So there's sometimes uh. experts on both sides who have to. analyze what's on the hard drive to show.

did he possess it or not and was the. actual image on the hard drive. >> Now. >> technically complex. >> Yeah. Now Stapleton takes this deal. Okay. So he pleads guilty to 20 out of. 40 charges. What are the factors that. would influence a prosecutor to accept. such a deal? Because you have to think, did they have a strong case? Could they. have proven 40 charges? But was there. something about this trial? Was there. certain aspects of it where they said, "If we can avoid a trial by all costs,

we will." I mean, why agree to him to. plead guilty to half of the charges? >> That I can't answer. I can only guess. Okay. >> That's what I ask you to do. You guess. That's what we. >> Yeah. My guess is is that they had. enough to secure a conviction crystal. clear on at least a few images. And so. the prosecution thinking 2025, good. enough. Okay. And he'll be on the. registry for the rest of his life or at. least for the next 10 years, 15 years. that he's on probation. Issue one. Issue. two, there may have been some technical.

aspects here that were not useful to the. government. There may have been other. mitigating concepts that make it a case. where we don't need to send him to. prison for a thousand years. I don't. know. I don't know the specific case in. the context, but I do these cases. That's kind of a par for the course type. prison sentence for possession. You. mentioned early on about distribution in. the federal system and in the state. system. There are more penalties for. when you're the guy producing it or if. you are then distributing it or these. things, the penalties are a lot worse.

>> And does it seem to you they didn't have. evidence of him distributing it or it. was more about just possessing it, knowingly possessing it? >> Correct. Okay. Correct. >> So, 5year prison sentence, 20 counts of. sexual exploitation. Is that considered. lenient? Is that considered average? Is. it harsh by Georgia standards? >> I'm going to give you just my own. anecdotal experience. I've done this for. almost 30 years now. That's part for the. course, especially in Barto County. That. is metro Atlanta, sort of. It's like, you know, here's Atlanta and Barto is a.

little bit north of that. So, it's what. we would call a more rural county, but. this urban spread has gone pretty far. So when you get to outside that ring of. the main counties of Atlanta, they're. going to be more strict, just the nature. of the beast here in Georgia. So 2025. here in Atlanta is kind of the par for. the course. To get probation is really. difficult to secure. Have I done it? Absolutely. Again, it depends on the. case. >> And what does his life look after? What. does a 15-year probation look like? What. does it look like to be on George's sex.

offender registry? >> Well, let me get on my soap box. Let me. pull it out. I think the registry is. ridiculous. Okay, if we have a registry, why don't we have it for fraudsters? Why. don't we have it for violent people? And. so, what really, really, really upsets. me is inconsistent meeting out of. justice. So, he will have trouble. securing a job because you can't have a. job near churches, you can't have a job. near pools, you can't have a job. So. difficult. You have a homestead. exemption. So, hopefully his home, he. owns it, he can go back to his home. But.

if he doesn't, it's very difficult to. find housing. It is such a nightmare. I. cannot tell you. Again, I'm okay with. the concept if again, do I have a con. man near me? Do I have a violent person. around me? Do I have these other people. around me? Why is it just sex offenders? And so, the registry here in Georgia has. done this. It's ebbed in flood. But, he's going to have difficulty. He's. going to have a lot of difficulty. securing work. He's going to have. difficulty securing housing. And it it. is something he will be required to do.

while he's on probation. And then in. theory, he can petition to get off the. registry. >> There's another aspect to this. I want. to talk about because when federal. agents descended on Joshua Stapleton's. Carterville home in April of 2020, the. neighbors were reportedly in disbelief. Brian Kanty, who lived across the. street, described the scene to Fox 5, calling Stapleton as quote, "Just a. mildmannered guy. Nothing that would. even give you the slightest inclination. that there was some type of criminal. activity going on. It was Homeland. Security." And I was just like, "Wow, what in the world is going on?" I.

learned about the child exploitation. charges later, and that just threw me. for a loop. I had absolutely no idea. Meg, generally speaking, is that a. typical response to sometimes, and this. is scary to say, you have no idea who's. in your life. You have no idea who's. around you. You have no idea what. someone's about, particularly if you're. talking about a digital crime like this. >> You never know what's going on behind. closed doors. And again, soapbox, again, one out of four females are sexually. abused. I mean, that's a pretty large uh.

statistic. And so it is really scary to. think and a very unfortunate part of my. job which I absolutely absolutely detest. and I'm going to get emotional is when I. represent folks who are charged with. this. I need to go look at this these. images. I need to go look at these. videos. They're horrific. I cannot tell. you. I can't put in words how horrible. they are. Okay? So when I hear wives. talk like that wife on the video about. oh he didn't you know look at the videos.

then we'll talk. Let's talk about this. cuz while neighbors or at least one. neighbor were blindsided or was. blindsided, what about his family? Okay. Well, publicly, Stapleton's life seemed. kind of untouched by the scandal. He and. his wife Britney Morris Stapleton, they. actually got married in 2023, according. to a post on Instagram. This was 3 years. after his arrest. They continued. building their influencer brand, GF. Coast Stapletons. And their Instagram. and Tik Tok accounts boasting 81,000. followers and over a million likes, showcases this glamorous lifestyle.

their luxury vacations, yacht trips, high-end dining, and even as his legal. case progressed, their content never. missed a beat. One of the highlights. that we pulled from their Tik Tok page. shows a trip to the Bahamas in August of. 2024 where the couple documented their. arrival. >> Guys, we finally did it. We made the. Bahamas crossing, came from Fort. Lauderdale to Biminy to Chub. On the way. over, had to make a quick stop in the. Gulf Stream so the boys could do a. little dive in and swim around. And as. you can see, the most perfect day for a. crossing. The seas were like less than 1.

ft. It was glassy out there. Here we are. checking into Chub and we stayed here. for 2 days. More videos to come. >> And also their departure. >> Although we didn't make any stops, Josh. wanted to treat me real nice for lunch. and got me a bag of lace chips from the. center console. The seas stayed so flat. all the way to Biminy from Nassau. It. was absolutely gorgeous. Obviously, Josh. had to save a little time for a dance. sesh. I guess that's his way of.

celebrating nice seas. >> And most recently, on June 23rd, 2025, Britney posted a video having brunch on. a boat in Orange Beach. And the comments. underneath that video are flooded with. viewers asking, "Are you okay? Did you. know?" So, as speculation swirled, Britney broke her silence in an 8-minute. Tik Tok video, adamantly denying claims. that she was unaware of her husband's. charges and saying she did know what was. going on. She also posted this video to.

her Instagram account with a photo of. her laying on Stapleton's lap. And the. caption of that post reads, "If this is. the statement you're looking for, here. it is." So, we're going to actually take. a closer look at that video. But Meg, let me ask you about this. Legally. speaking, is there anything preventing. someone under indictment if they're out. on bond for serious charges like this. from continuing to live their life, post. on social media, profit from influencer. content? >> Yeah, it depends on what the bond. conditions are. A lot of times when.

you're charged with this at the federal. level, you do have to surrender your. passport and there usually uh Adam Walsh. Act is what it's called. There are. usually conditions that allow you to not. be on the internet, not be around. children, etc., etc. At the state level, sometimes you can just have bond that. says pay $20,000 and go on your merry. way. And I'm I'm being a little. facicious when I say that. That's not. the terms of art that says on the bond, but there are no conditions. And my. impression of this case is that he had. no conditions other than to have posted. the money and move forward and not. obviously violate any laws while he's on.

probation. >> I mean, if this went to trial, could the. continued social media activity. be used as evidence in some way? >> Yeah. I think Karen Reed, I mean, you. put anything out there, you can put it. out there. Um, it's always my advice to. not and uh if this went to trial, they. would have most definitely gone through. that entire Instagram, Tik Tok, any. social media, Facebook, whatever's out. there that he posted, she posted to use. against them. They'll comb it. They will. comb every part because remember, they.

have the subpoena power. So, they can. get stuff that was deleted as well. Uh. they can get posts, they can do a lot. more than what you and I can do by just. looking at open source. So, you go back. to this video, okay? And as news of. Stapleton's sentencing began circulating. across social media, Britney took to Tik. Tok to break her silence, responding to. what she described as widespread. misinformation about the relationship in. the case. And in a lengthy video, she. said her goal was essentially to set the. record straight. So throughout the clip,

Britney both threatened legal action. against online critics and insisted that. she had known about Stapleton's child. exploitation charges from the start, but. she repeatedly rejected the idea that. she had been unaware of the allegations, stating clearly that she was fully. informed and claimed the relationship. began with complete transparency. And. not only did she seemingly know, she. said, but their mutual friends knew as. well. and she also pushed back on. accusations that the couple portrayed a.

dishonest or curated image online. Take. a listen for yourself. >> I want to start off by saying that you. are absolutely allowed to post anything. that is public record such as mug shots, indictments, court documents, anything. like that and give your opinion. What. you're not allowed to do is post. anything that is a false statement that. is damaging to someone's reputation. And. I've seen a lot of it, so I'm going to. set the record straight. But if I. continue to see it, naturally, I'm going. to have to take legal action because. it's absolutely illegal. Now, this.

brings me to the first question I. continuously keep seeing. Maybe she. didn't know. Or did she know? Do we. think she knew? How did she not know? Absolutely, I knew. Josh and I were. friends way before we ever started. dating. So, when the charges occurred, we were friends. You better believe I. hit him up because as soon as I saw it, I have a really good judge of character. and I knew something was up. I knew that. was not Josh. We had already been on. several trips together beforehand. I'd.

spent pretty close time with this guy. and I was like, m something's wrong. here. Josh was absolutely upfront with. me about everything in the charges. There were no secrets. I know. everything. I have been to court. I know. everything. Hey, it's been all over the. internet. If you didn't know, you just. didn't know. But B, we have never in our. lives been at someone's house around. someone's children and not let them know. ahead of time because we don't want. anything to ever look sketchy. So, we. have always been absolutely upfront with.

everyone. And guess what? A lot of these. people have our backs because they have. personally witnessed Josh around their. children and know there's no issue. People keep saying we were living fake. lives. There was nothing fake about it. It was our life. I mean, we're just. living like we always do. Anyone who is. around us or has been around us on a. normal day knows that was just us. We. are still happy. He and I have no. issues. He has been fully transparent. and honest with me. Therefore, I know.

everything. I have been to court. I know. everything. I can assure you that. nothing about us was fake. People. continuously say their lavish lifestyle. was over. They thought they were such a. po power couple. All these things. Josh. and I would never consider our lives. lavish by any stretch of the means. If. you know us, you know most of the time. when we travel, we stay at a holiday in. our boat that everyone calls a yacht. 2005 model. We are not living some crazy.

lavish lifestyle. This was never a job. It was only for fun for us. We just. enjoyed posting our memories and. travels. I am one of the most mentally. tough people you'll ever meet. been. through hell. Been through a lot in my. life. I'm pretty mentally tough. Not. everyone is. So, I'm glad you guys chose. me for this and to give me hell. Like, I. didn't just go through the worst week of. my life. Like, I did not just lose my. best friend. >> By the way, just for reference, we can't. really confirm what exactly she's saying. she knew. But it's clear, at least post.

arrest, she was aware. Me, what do you. take away from this? Well, remember uh. like she says on the video, this is. public information. So, the charges are. public information, but I took issue. with she doesn't have a lavish. lifestyle. She may not have a lavish. lifestyle, but what she posted was more. lavish than what I live. I don't own a. boat or a 2005 boat. Okay. I don't own a. pool in my backyard, you know, so or I. don't know where the pool is, but she's. there's pictures of her being in a pool.

And so, you post it, you give the. impression of such then, you know, there. is what it is. And she's also have. pictures of her on a snowmobile. There's. pictures of her, you know, just enjoying. life, like you said, going to the. Bahamas, etc., etc. So, when you do. that, you are portraying a lavish. lifestyle. So, I thought that was a. little weird. She's like, I'm not. lavish. Whatever. Whatever. Okay. A lot. of my clients who are charged with, you. name it. There's this very, very fancy. word called denial. It's really hard to. deal with the concept of being arrested.

It's really hard dealing with the feds. coming to your house and doing a house. search warrant. And so it's really hard. to wrap your head around these things. But what I can't stand is when he plead. guilty at this point. Clearly he's. saying I had these images on my devices. That's you got to say you you that's. your that's the person. What am I going. to do with that? That is what it is. She. should have said that in her video. Could she realistically pursue legal. action, lawsuits, defamation, emotional.

distress if people are posting. statements about her online, false. statements about her online? I mean, where is the legal line drawn? You. think? >> Well, I mean, I'm going to give my. humble opinion. My humble opinion is let. it go. Okay. I liked what she said with. respect to on my page. If you're going. to be rude, I'm going to block you. I'm. all about that because we all know, everybody knows that even if I have 10. followers or I have a million followers, there's going to be one out of those 10. followers who are going to say rude. things. You know what? I don't need that. on my page. So, I agree with her on.

that. Block them. You know what? Block, block, block. But to go and pursue legal. action, I think that's a little extreme. I don't think it's necessary. I don't. think it's worth it ultimately because. what is defamation? And then the key. part is is what is the damages? what was. the damage of whatever defame statement. it is. I just think it's not worth it. That's what I would say if you came to. me with these questions. If she was. coming to me to represent her on those. issues, I'd say don't bother. >> So, are there any risks, legal,

strategic, for someone who is closely. connected to now a convicted sex. offender to publicly speak about the. case during the offender's incarceration. or even the probation period? Is there a. risk to him? >> Yeah, let's pretend he gets out in two. and a half years, okay? and let's. pretend that they post something. innocuous. Let's then pretend that. probation sees it and there's something. in that video they want to use against. them. I just think it's not a good plan, especially when you're on supervision to. be on social media and be posting like.

that because we don't know if you. accidentally post something. I'm going. to be again just hypothetically, but. let's pretend you're doing a day in the. life and you happen to accidentally show. a bong. Well, that you can't have a bong. if you're on probation. All right? because there would be residue on there. and that'd be illegal substances. Again, I'm just being a little funny here, but. don't put yourself at risk. >> Yeah, I can't disagree with you there. And I'll tell you, look, Stapleton, he's. beginning his 5-year prison sentence. And I will tell you, I think this case. just exposes a disturbing truth that.

once again, behind the glossy veneer of. social media fame, even the most. polished personas, they can be hiding. devastating secrets that I think we've. seen time and time again. Meg, great to. see you. Thank you so much for taking. the time. Really appreciate it. >> Thank you for having me. I appreciate. it, too. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your. podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to. you next time.

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