ST. LOUIS — A man received two life sentences plus 63 years in prison after a St. Louis jury found him guilty in October of 22 sex offenses against children.
Craig Wilbert, 62, was found guilty of crimes against children including sodomy, sexual trafficking and furnishing pornographic material.
Prosecutors said on Jan. 3, 2023, police received a report of a sexual assault of a 17-year-old. The victim had recently moved into Wilbert's house in the city's Dutchtown neighborhood where a teenage boy and another woman also lived.
Warning: the next section describes some of the abuse and is disturbing.
Prosecutors said Wilbert began making sexual advances toward her by sending her porn, offering to pay the victim for sex, and threatening to kick out the girl and the other two people who lived there if the victim didn't have sex with him.
Prosecutors said after an investigation, it was revealed Wilbert was sexually abusing the boy as well, starting from when he was 12 years old. Wilbert convinced the victim to trade sexual favors for money to take the bus to school, buy a cell phone and pay the phone bill.
Wilbert was convicted of first-degree child molestation in 2010 and sentenced to eight years in prison.
Prosecutors said the life sentences in this case were mandatory because of Wilbert's prior conviction. He will be eligible for parole after serving 30 years in prison.
