SPRINGFIELD, Mo.- A Springfield man who worked as a teacher in China has been sentenced for sexually exploiting one of his former students by attempting to blackmail her into sending him pornographic images.

According to federal officials, 48-year-old Curtis Baldwin will serve 41 years and eight months in federal prison without parole. The Court also sentenced Baldwin to spend the rest of his life on supervised release after incarceration.

According to a press release, Baldwin worked as an English language teacher in China for EF Education First. He returned to Springfield in November 2019. When he returned, Baldwin contacted a 12-year-old former student, identified in court documents Jane Doe, via the WeChat application.

Court records say Baldwin told Jane Doe he had video footage that showed her engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and threatened to post the video on the internet unless she sent him images and a video of herself engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

“Jane Doe’s father saw the WeChat messages and contacted EF Education First China School authorities,” the release says.

In March 2020, federal authorities searched Baldwin’s home and seized his MacBook Pro containing child pornography files, including multiple videos of minor Chinese females engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Authorities found another sexually explicit video titled “My First Project,” created by Baldwin of a minor female in Springfield.