A St. Louis County woman has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for producing child sexual abuse material involving a toddler, according to a ruling by U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel. Raven Ainesis Pointer, 27, will also be required to pay $15,000 in restitution and will be on supervised release for life following her incarceration.
Pointer entered a guilty plea in October at the U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of production of child pornography. She admitted to coercing a two-year-old victim into sexual conduct and using her phone to create videos of the abuse in 2022.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany Becker noted in a sentencing memo that Pointer recorded the abuse on six occasions and shared it with others for their "perverse sexual" gratification. While incarcerated, Pointer attempted to contact the child and criticized the child's father for pursuing restitution.
Mark Zito, Special Agent in Charge of ICE Homeland Security Investigations Kansas City, stated: “The production and sharing of child sexual abuse material is an appalling betrayal of human decency. This defendant targeted an innocent toddler – someone who should have been protected, not exploited – and did so for her own twisted purposes and the gratification of others who feed on this sickness."
The investigation began in August 2023 when Homeland Security Investigations agents in Montgomery, Alabama discovered that a man distributing child sexual abuse material had received videos from Pointer featuring the two-year-old victim. The investigators subsequently located Pointer in St. Louis.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the St. Louis County Police Department as part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat child exploitation and abuse.
