Wanted man charged with posing as woman to lure men into sexually exploiting youngest of children
State and county investigators in Minnesota are turning to the public for help capturing a man charged with connecting with other men virtually and having them sexually exploit the youngest of children.
William Guy Amick III, 36, of suburban Pittsburgh, was charged Thursday in Fillmore County District Court with 13 counts of child sexual abuse material including using minors in sexual performance, soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct and possession of pornographic work involving a minor.
The many incidents involved victims, male and female, from ages newborn to 7 years old, according to the charges. The videos ranged in length from less than 30 seconds to more than 12 minutes.
Amick, who also goes by "E," committed many of these crimes while living in the southern Minnesota communities of Mabel and Rushford for about two years until May 2023, the charges said.
"His whereabouts since that time are unknown," read a statement issued late Thursday afternoon by the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). "He may or may not still be in Minnesota."
The BCA describes Amick as white, 6 feet 3 inches tall, 123 pounds, with dark brown hair and blue eyes.
He has often posed as a female using artificial intelligence when interacting with men online to create material of the men sexually abusing their own children, the BCA added.
The BCA said that tips to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 2021 and 2022 alerted the agency to Amick and his suspected sexual exploitation of children.
According to the charges:
In May 2023, the sheriff's office tracked Amick to a home in Rushford, where he lived for nearly two years until moving out.
The BCA located two electronic devices that Amick left behind and found on them more than 200 videos of Amick on chats over a three-month span with a man in Washington state and a girl age 6 or 7.
During the chats, Amick modified his voice and appearance using artificial intelligence to portray a woman he called Alice, who directed the man to sexually abuse the girl. Amick recorded the abuse.
Eventually, after Amick kept ordering the girl to sexually touch the man, she stopped and said, " 'I hate you, Alice,' " the charges read.
The man, John Thompson, has been arrested and charged in Washington state. He is also wanted in Pennsylvania in connection with a case that is similar in nature. The BCA added that investigators continue trying to identify the other men tied to Amick and involved in creating the child sexual abuse material.
Investigators believe Amick received payments from people who support his online activities, but financial supporters may not have known his true identity or have been aware of his criminal activity, according to the BCA.
Anyone with information on Amick's whereabouts is urged to contact the U.S. Marshals Service at www.p3tips.com/USMS.aspx or by calling 877-WANTED-2. Tips can be anonymous. The FBI is also assisting in the investigation.
