Appeals Court Upholds 245-Year Sentence for San Angelo Man

SAN ANGELO, TX — The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Sept. 9 upheld the convictions and 245-year federal prison sentence of a San Angelo man found guilty of producing child pornography and cyberstalking victims across the country. 

A three-judge panel affirmed the July 15, 2025, sentence imposed on Juelz Sincere Armstead in an unpublished opinion. Armstead, then 21, was convicted by a Lubbock jury in April 2025 of five counts of production of child pornography, two counts of attempted production of child pornography and seven counts of cyberstalking. 

U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix sentenced him to 2,940 months — 245 years — after a four-day trial.

Prosecutors said Armstead spent about three years contacting nine minors and one adult on social media platforms, then coerced them into sending sexually explicit photographs and videos. He threatened to share the material with family members, friends and others if they did not produce more, according to evidence presented at trial. 

The Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office arrested Armstead in December 2022. After his release from jail, he obtained another phone and continued the scheme until a second arrest in February 2024, testimony showed. 

Victims from multiple states testified about the threats and the emotional harm that followed. Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Mike Baker said at sentencing that additional victims were too traumatized to prepare for or attend trial. 

Hendrix described Armstead’s conduct as “repeat, incessant terrorizing and bullying [of] these victims over and over again without any sign of mercy.” The judge told Armstead: “You are an incredible danger. The protection of the public is at its apex here.”

Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy E. Larson said the sentence was warranted by the harm to each victim and should serve as a warning to others. 

On appeal, Armstead argued that a law enforcement agent’s testimony characterizing images and videos as child sexual abuse material denied him a fair trial and that the district court should have given a curative instruction. He also challenged the court’s explanation for consecutive sentences and argued that the production statute is unconstitutional. 

The panel applied plain-error review to the first two claims. It held that any assumed error in the agent’s testimony was not clear or obvious and did not affect Armstead’s substantial rights, citing the victims’ testimony and the volume of other evidence, including tens of thousands of pages of messages and hundreds of photographs and videos. The court also found the district judge had considered a request for concurrent time and given extensive reasons for the maximum sentence. The constitutional challenge was foreclosed by existing 5th Circuit precedent. 

The 5th Circuit issued the ruling as an unpublished opinion, meaning it upholds Armstead’s sentence but is not intended as binding precedent for other cases.

Homeland Security Investigations’ Abilene office led the investigation with assistance from HSI offices and state and local agencies in Texas and more than a dozen other states. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Callie Woolam and Stephen Rancourt prosecuted the case. The prosecution was brought under Project Safe Childhood, a Justice Department initiative targeting child sexual exploitation.