James Looney, 43, Higginsville, Missouri, was sentenced to serve time in the Missouri Department of Corrections on June 15, 2026. The sentencing followed his guilty plea to the class D felony of Possession of Child Pornography, the class E felony of Tampering with Physical Evidence, the class E felony of Sexual Contact with a Student, the class B misdemeanor of Sexual Misconduct in the First Degree and the class C misdemeanor of Sexual Misconduct in the Third Degree on May 18, 2026. The case was previously set for jury trial in May. The defendant’s plea allowed the child victims to not have to testify during a trial. The State was represented by Lafayette County Prosecuting Attorney, Kristen Ellis Hilbrenner, at both the plea and sentencing hearing.

Charges were brought after a student notified administrators at Lafayette County C-1 that she was fearful of the defendant, who was at that time a janitor at the school, because the defendant asked the student for her social media contact and gave the student his Snapchat handle. Upon learning this information, school administrators contacted the School Resource Officer, who escorted the defendant from the building and then conducted his criminal investigation. During that investigation, the officer learned that another student had visited a friend at defendant’s residence, at which time the defendant touched the breast of that student. Defendant later received a video from the student that included child pornography. When the defendant was confronted by law enforcement and asked to surrender his phone to search for evidence of the child pornography, defendant admitted he had attempted to delete apps from his phone that might contain that evidence.

However, the video that was sent to the defendant was still able to be located on the defendant’s phone. There was also additional evidence that defendant had contacted a third victim…

At sentencing, Prosecutor Hilbrenner argued that the defendant is clearly a danger to the community as evidenced by the charges he pled guilty to. She pointed out that the victims in this case deserved to feel safe at school and this defendant took that away from them. Prosecutor Hilbrenner also stated that the defendant showed a complete lack of remorse or concern for the victims but instead took the position that he was the victim of being set up by the school and by law enforcement. The State asked the court to sentence the defendant to seven years, three years, three years, 90 days and 15 days on the five counts.

The defense attorney argued for probation in the community, citing the defendant’s relative lack of criminal history and that the defendant has been incarcerated in the Lafayette County Jail since charges were filed in March of 2025.

At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Josh Taylor agreed with the State that defendant should be incarcerated for these offenses and sentenced the defendant to five years, four years and two years in the Department of Corrections, as well as 90 days and 10 days in jail on the misdemeanor counts. During his pronouncement of sentence, Judge Taylor also informed the defendant that he will be placed on the Child Abuse and Neglect Registry as a result of his crimes. In the State of Missouri, convictions on these types of crimes will also require the defendant to register as a sex offender when he is released from the Department of Corrections.