A Cape Girardeau man has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for producing child pornography. U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. delivered the sentence on Tuesday to Steven Lee Brown, aged 33, who admitted to recording his sexual activity with a minor.
Brown, from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, pleaded guilty in December at the U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to one count of producing child pornography. The charges stemmed from an incident reported last May when the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office received information about Brown's alleged sexual abuse of a 10-year-old child.
The child confirmed the abuse during an interview, leading officers to immediately respond to Brown's residence. During their investigation, Brown confessed to engaging in various sexual acts with the child and using his cell phone to record some of these activities. Authorities seized Brown's phone and found sexually explicit images of the minor.
At his guilty plea hearing, Brown acknowledged using his phone to produce this material. Following his prison term, he will face lifetime supervised release.
The case was investigated by both the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Koester prosecuted the case for the government.
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. It brings together resources from federal, state, and local levels to apprehend and prosecute offenders while also working to identify and rescue victims.
For more details on Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.
