EDWARDSVILLE – A Louisiana man accused of soliciting a teen victim and sharing child pornography via iMessage remains in custody in Madison County.
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Kendal J. Workman, 22, of Metairie, La., was charged on Dec. 18, 2025 with two counts of child pornography (both Class X felonies) and one count each of indecent solicitation of a child (a Class 3 felony) and grooming (a Class 4 felony).
On June 18, 2024, Workman allegedly knowingly solicited a 15-year-old child via iMessage to appear in a sexually explicit video. Months later on Oct. 7, 2024, he reportedly shared an explicit video via iMessage depicting the same victim and solicited the victim to perform a sexual act with him.
From Jan. 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025, Workman is accused of knowingly using iMessage to attempt to seduce, solicit, lure, or entice the same victim to engage in a sex act which would have qualified as aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
The Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to deny Workman’s pretrial release from custody in this case. According to the petition, the Edwardsville Police Department discovered “information of a criminal nature” on an electronic device seized by the department during the investigation of a separate child exploitation case from June of 2025.
During their conversations via iMessage, the victim allegedly told Workman she was “getting ready to celebrate her 16th birthday,” the petition states, adding these conversations occurred over the course of at least 17 months.
The charges against Workman were initially sealed as he posed a risk of flight from prosecution if his name had been made public prior to his arrest, according to Madison County court records.
The Edwardsville Police Department presented the case against Workman, who currently remains in custody at the Madison County Jail.
All individuals charged are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
