According to federal court documents, a disbarred Miami attorney who formerly worked as a state prosecutor and then as a civil trial lawyer is serving 16 years in jail after pleading guilty to making child pornography involving online chat rooms with young boys.
According to records, William Power McCaughan Jr. grew raised on Key Biscayne and graduated from Christopher Columbus High School, the University of Notre Dame, and Georgetown University Law Center. McCaughan, 42, faced up to 30 years in prison when he was sentenced in Miami federal court; however, U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz imposed a term slightly longer than the minimum mandatory 15-year sentence for the internet child-porn violation.
“Billy still has a long way to go, but he is committed to continuing the road to recovery,” his defense attorneys, Joseph Rosenbaum, and David Rothman, wrote in a memo just before McCaughan’s sentence in late August. “He is also determined to serve his sentence, make atonement, and pay it forward.
“Billy is not a lost cause and is worthy of a second chance to get things right.”
McCaughan’s federal child-porn complaint was filed in July of last year, while he was working as an attorney for the Morgan Law Group in Coral Gables. McCaughan, the son of a Key Biscayne lawyer, formerly served as a state prosecutor in Southwest Florida.
The initial allegations against McGaughan involved receiving child-pornographic photos over the internet, and the Florida Supreme Court revoked his legal license for five years in December.
However, in February, federal prosecutors increased the allegations to include the manufacture of child pornographic photographs, which is a more serious felony. Three months later, McCaughan pleaded guilty to the production charge, and the remaining offenses were dismissed.
Here’s how the FBI case played out, according to a factual statement included in McCaughan’s guilty agreement.
wanted to have sex with an 11-year-old girl
In December 2022, McCaughan, using the moniker “wmccaugh” on the Kik file-sharing app, saw a video of another user’s 11-year-old niece and informed the user he intended to take the kid “on a road trip” and then spend a weekend committing sexual acts on her “before she develops too much.”
McCaughan, who was chatting to an FBI undercover operative, voiced “frustration that sex was treated as private, taboo, and off limits to kids,” and he believed that “lots of kids are horny and curious from a young age, and even if they aren’t or don’t like it very much, they need to learn.”
Then, last year, agents acquired search warrants for McCaughan’s home, car, and electronic equipment, including a cell phone. Agents discovered the Kik program, which was logged in for use under the username “wmccaugh”.
Chats with teenage lads
Agents discovered cell phone conversations between McCaughan and two boys, ages 16 and 14. They included discussions of “sexual acts with pre-pubescent minors with one of the minor victims,” according to the factual statement filed with McCaughan’s plea deal.
The first juvenile victim turned 17 while conversing with McCaughan.
On March 11, 2021, McCaughan spoke with the second juvenile victim and inquired about his age. The minor victim informed McCaughan that he was 16 years old.
“During their conversation, [McCaughan] asked [the second victim] to send him images of his genitalia,” the statement reads.
According to the statement, McCaughan then said: “let me see more of you,” “spread that ass and let me see the hole I’m going to wreck,” “let’s see the rest of your body” and “cock,” among other things. In response, the second victim “sent him multiple media files of his naked penis.”
According to prosecutors Abbie Waxman and Lauren Astigarraga-Little, the photographs depicted the [second underage victim] engaging in sexually explicit conduct, which constitutes child pornography.
