U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig has sentenced a St. Charles, Missouri man to 72 months in prison for crimes related to child pornography. The man, Brian Larkin, was also ordered to pay $170,500 in restitution to the victims depicted in the material he collected.
In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Fleissig imposed a $10,000 fine on Larkin and required him to pay a $20,000 assessment benefiting child pornography victims. Upon his release from prison, Larkin will be subject to supervised release for life.
Larkin, aged 54, pleaded guilty in October to one felony count of receiving child pornography. He admitted possession of over 972 image files and 962 video files containing child sexual abuse material stored on a thumb drive within a safe.
The investigation into Larkin's activities began in September 2023 when the FBI’s St. Louis office discovered his involvement in chat room discussions about child sexual exploitation. He had been reported twice through Cyber Tipline Reports to the National Center for Exploited & Missing Children for using Kik Messenger to upload five files containing child pornography.
During a court-approved search of Larkin’s home on November 29, 2023, agents located the thumb drive inside a gun safe.
The FBI conducted the investigation with Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson prosecuting the case.
This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse nationwide. The project involves federal, state, and local resources working together to apprehend offenders and rescue victims of internet-based exploitation.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.
