Former Olive Branch Teacher and Preacher Sentenced to 25 Years in Child Exploitation Case
A former Olive Branch teacher and preacher has been sentenced to 25 years in prison following a child exploitation conviction tied to a 2023 undercover operation by the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office.
Kyle Michael Hilleary, 32, of Olive Branch, was sentenced Tuesday, May 26, 2026, by 23rd Circuit Court Judge Celeste Wilson. Hilleary received a 35-year sentence, with 25 years to serve day-for-day without the possibility of parole in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. He will also serve five years on probation.
Hilleary was convicted of one count of child exploitation following a jury trial, according to Attorney General Lynn Fitch. The case was investigated and prosecuted by the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, with assistance from the Olive Branch Police Department. Officials said the case originated from a 2023 Attorney General’s Office undercover operation known as Operation Toil and Trouble.
Hilleary was arrested in November 2023 and charged with exploitation of a child. At the time, the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department said he had bonded out of the DeSoto County Adult Detention Center on a $250,000 bond. DeSoto County News reported then that Hilleary’s LinkedIn page listed him as a pastor in residence at Cedar View Baptist Church in Olive Branch and as an ESL instructor with VIPKid. He had also been listed as an instructor at Cross Creek Christian Academy, though his name was later no longer listed among the school’s staff.
“These crimes rob a child of their innocence and the images can cause a lifetime of trauma, re-victimizing the child over and over again,” Fitch said. “And when the perpetrator is someone in a position of authority, they violate a covenant with the parents who entrusted them with their children. We will not tolerate such abuse.”
As part of the sentence, Hilleary was ordered to pay $1,000 to the Victims of Human Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation Fund and $1,000 to the Mississippi Children’s Trust Fund.
He must also register as a sex offender.
