A 38-year-old St. Louis man has been sentenced to an additional five years in prison in Marion County Court after pleading guilty to three counts of child pornography.
Courtney Buffkins is already serving 39 years in prison on multiple charges involving another juvenile girl from Salem. Buffkins was initially arrested when found with the first girl in a Salem motel room in November 2021. The investigation found at least four earlier encounters between the two.
Salem Police say they found the child pornography involving the second girl as they were processing Buffkins’ phone for evidence in the initial case.
Marion County State’s Attorney Tim Hudspeth says the second victim preferred to keep her privacy and not go through a trial which was scheduled for next week.
Buffkins received five years on each of the three child pornography charges, with all the time to be served concurrently. The five-year term will also be served consecutively to a child pornography conviction involving the initial victim. It will run concurrently with four earlier pleas to aggravated criminal sexual abuse of the first victim. Three other counts of child pornography were dropped as part of Friday’s plea agreement clearing the last of the 16 charges originally faced by Buffkins.
Buffkins will have to complete one year mandatory supervised release when getting out of prison. A $1,000 fine on each count was declared uncollectible.
Buffkins is currently appealing the 39 year prison term to the Appellate Court in Mt. Vernon.
