An influencer known for documenting her dreamy Gulf Coast travels with her husband is standing by his side as he was sentenced to prison for child pornography.
Joshua Stapleton, 39, and his wife Brittani, 31, are the faces behind the ‘Gulf Coast Stapletons’ – a social media account that captured snapshots of their seemingly perfect, picture-postcard lifestyle along the Gulf Coast.
But their dreamy world came to a screeching halt when investigators discovered that, over the course of two years, Joshua had downloaded images of prepubescent children portrayed in sexually-charged situations, as reported by Fox 5 News.
More than four years after authorities launched their investigation, the Georgia native was sentenced last month to five years behind bars, followed by 15 years on probation.
On Friday, however, Brittani took to TikTok with a lengthy video defending her husband – going as far as threatening legal action against anyone spreading what she called ‘false’ statements.
‘Josh was absolutely upfront with me about everything in the charges – there were no secrets,’ she said in the video.
Brittani also posted a photo on Instagram of herself lying on her husband’s lap aboard a boat, captioning it: ‘If this is the statement you’re looking for, here it is.’
Her husband’s arrest followed an investigation launched by the Cartersville Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division, with support from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the US Department of Homeland Security.
Brittani Stapleton (left), 31, defended her husband, Joshua (right), 39, as he was sentenced to five years in prison for child pornography
An investigation uncovered that, over the course of two years, Joshua (pictured) had downloaded images of prepubescent children portrayed in sexually-charged situations and was sentenced last month to five years behind bars, followed by 15 years on probation
The couple (pictured) are the faces behind the ‘Gulf Coast Stapletons’ – a social media account that captured snapshots of their seemingly perfect, picture-postcard lifestyle along the Gulf Coast
It was during this time that Joshua was discovered to have downloaded images of children in sexually abusive situations between 2018 and 2020.
‘Just a mild-mannered guy, nothing that would even give you the slightest inclination that there was some type of criminal activity going on,’ Bryan Canty, who lived across the street from Joshua in Georgia, told Fox 5.
Recalling the night in 2020 when multiple agencies swarmed Joshua’s home, he remembered thinking, ‘What in the world is going on?’
‘l learned about the child exploitation charges later and that just threw me for a loop,’ he added. ‘I had absolutely no idea.’
Originally charged with 15 counts of child porn possession, Joshua was later indicted on a staggering 40 counts of sexual exploitation of children.
He ultimately accepted a non-negotiable plea deal, pleading guilty to 20 counts while the remaining 20 charges were dropped.
Joshua and Brittani – who have amassed more than one million likes across TikTok and Instagram – often share duo workouts, meals, and vacations with their more than 81,000 followers.
Just last week, the pair shared several videos from their trip to Orange Beach, Alabama.
While defending her husband (right) in a lengthy, eight-minute video, Brittani (left) said: Josh was absolutely upfront with me about everything in the charges – there were no secrets’
But Brittani’s next public words came in an eight-minute video posted to the popular platform – one many have since labeled ‘extremely concerning.’
In the video, she sought to correct what she called ‘misinformation’ circulating online after news of her husband’s incarceration broke.
‘What you’re not allowed to do is post anything that is a false statement, that is damaging to someone’s reputation,’ Brittani sternly said.
‘And I’ve seen a lot of it, so I’m going to set the record straight, but if I continue to see it, naturally I’m going to have to take legal action because it’s absolutely illegal,’ she added.
Brittani went on to address her most frequently asked question: whether she knew about the crimes before marrying Joshua in 2023 – to which she replied, ‘Absolutely, I knew.’
In the video, Brittani (right) even went as far as to threatening legal action against anyone spreading what she called ‘false’ statements following her husband’s (left) sentencing
She explained that they were friends before dating, and when the charges surfaced, she reached out to him because it didn’t sound like him – especially since they had already taken multiple vacations and spent a lot of time together.
‘I have a really good judge of character and I knew something was up,’ she said. ‘I knew that was not Josh.’
She also pushed back against accusations that they were projecting ‘fake lives’ on their social media accounts.
‘There’s nothing fake about it. It was our lives, we are still happy, he and I have no issues,’ Brittani posted.
Joshua is currently being held in the Bartow County Sheriff’s Office Jail. Authorities have yet to release additional information.
