U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel has sentenced a St. Louis County woman to 25 years in prison for producing child sexual abuse material involving a toddler. The sentencing follows an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the St. Louis County Police Department.
Raven Ainesis Pointer, aged 27, was also ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution and will be on supervised release for life after serving her sentence. Pointer had pleaded guilty in October to one count of production of child pornography in the U.S. District Court in St. Louis.
Pointer admitted to coercing a two-year-old victim into engaging in sexual conduct and using her phone to produce videos containing child sexual abuse material in 2022. According to a sentencing memo by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany Becker, Pointer recorded the abuse on six occasions and shared it with others for their "perverse sexual" entertainment.
In jail, Pointer attempted to contact the child and criticized the child's father for seeking restitution, as stated in the memo.
Mark Zito, ICE Homeland Security Investigations Kansas City Special Agent in Charge, commented on the case: “The production and sharing of child sexual abuse material is an appalling betrayal of human decency... Crimes like this are not only horrific, but they are also unforgivable.”
The investigation commenced in August 2023 when ICE HSI special agents discovered that a man distributing child sexual abuse material had received videos from Pointer involving a toddler victim. This led investigators to track down Pointer in St. Louis.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice aimed at combating child exploitation and abuse online.
For those suspecting online child sexual exploitation or abuse (CSEA), reports can be made via the Know2Protect Tipline at 1-833-591-KNOW (5669) or through the NCMEC CyberTipline. In cases where a child may have been abducted or is in immediate danger, local law enforcement or the NCMEC Tipline at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) should be contacted.
Know2Protect is a public awareness campaign from the Department of Homeland Security designed to educate about preventing online CSEA.
