Mississippi Man Convicted in Exploitation Ring That Took Roblox Gift Cards

A federal jury in Pittsburgh took less than two hours to convict a Mississippi man who prosecutors say helped run an online ring that sexually exploited young girls for money and took some of its payments in Roblox gift cards.

Justin Lee Plunk, 39, of Corinth, Mississippi, was found guilty on October 9 of conspiring to distribute and distributing child sexual abuse material for profit, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania said. The trial ran four days before U.S. District Judge Robert J. Colville. The Justice Department announced the verdict on October 14.

Where Roblox comes in

According to the evidence at trial, the group operated from at least 2021 to 2024. It recruited girls as young as 10, in western Pennsylvania and elsewhere, to make sexual material and to join live video calls with paying customers.

Most of that happened on Instagram, Snapchat and Telegram. Roblox shows up twice in the government’s account. One of the girls was first brought into the scheme on Roblox, and Roblox gift cards were one of the ways customers paid, alongside Cash App, Venmo and Walmart gift cards.

Prosecutors said Plunk took in more than $57,000 of the proceeds as cash transfers and retail gift cards. He already had a record: a 2016 conviction in Mississippi for enticing a child for sexual purposes.

“Justin Plunk was an active participant in a conspiracy that, for years, preyed upon and sexually exploited children for profit through a variety of online platforms, including popular social media and children’s gaming apps and mobile payment services,” U.S. Attorney Troy Rivetti said.

Almost two years from arrest to verdict

The court file, United States v. Plunk, No. 2:25-cr-00009, shows how long the case took to reach a jury.

• December 9, 2024: Prosecutor Heidi Grogan filed a sealed criminal complaint, and a magistrate judge signed an arrest warrant the same day. The case was unsealed the next day.
• January 2, 2025: Plunk made his first appearance in Pittsburgh. He waived his preliminary and detention hearings, was ordered held, and the court appointed attorney Adam R. Gorzelsky to represent him.
• January 7, 2025: A grand jury returned a two-count indictment.
• 2025 into early 2026: The deadline for pretrial motions was pushed back again and again, and the trial was postponed in March 2026.
• September 2026: The lawyers filed motions in limine, the arguments over what evidence the jury could hear, and the judge ruled on them September 28.
• October 9, 2026: The jury returned its verdict, and the judge issued a presentence order the same day.

Several entries in the docket are sealed, which is common in cases involving child victims.

What happens next

Judge Colville set sentencing for January 26, 2027. Each count carries up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, so Plunk faces as much as 40 years. The actual sentence will depend on the federal sentencing guidelines, which weigh his criminal history.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Heidi Grogan and Trial Attorney Gwendelynn Bills of the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section prosecuted the case.

Not the only Roblox case this month

We went through 1,451 Justice Department press releases published between September 10 and October 15, 2026. Roblox is named in four separate cases:

• September 16: A former Tennessee sheriff’s deputy, Johnathan Nathaniel Allen, was sentenced to 25 years. Prosecutors said he posed online as a 14-year-old boy and used Instagram, Reddit, TextMe and Roblox to target children (DOJ).
• September 23: A federal grand jury in Ohio indicted Tyler Nike Thomas in the death of 17-year-old Hailey Buzbee. Prosecutors said he met her online playing games including Roblox and League of Legends (DOJ).
• October 1: Badshah Sahi, 21, of Arlington, Texas, was sentenced to 35 years. Prosecutors said he used Roblox to coerce a 10-year-old in Indiana (DOJ).
• October 14: The Plunk verdict.

In none of these cases is Roblox accused of wrongdoing. What they show is how often a game children play every day turns up in federal prosecutions, usually as the place where first contact was made. In Plunk’s case, it was also part of how the money moved.

We have covered earlier cases, including an Arizona man who got 21 years after using Roblox and Discord to groom children. We have also reported on how Roblox, Steam, Fortnite and Minecraft scored in Australia’s eSafety review.

If you believe a child is being exploited online, you can report it to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s CyberTipline or to the FBI.