A St. Louis man has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison for his involvement in an online child sexual abuse material (CSAM) chat group. U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk handed down the 84-month sentence on Monday and ordered the defendant, David Korte Daues, 37, to pay $10,000 in restitution to victims.
Daues pleaded guilty in September to one count of possession of child pornography in U.S. District Court in St. Louis. According to court documents, he was a moderator for an online group that shared CSAM and participated in about 25 groups on the messaging app Kik and five groups on the Wire platform. He admitted to distributing CSAM within these groups and possessing images and videos containing CSAM on two cell phones.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation, while Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson prosecuted the case.
"This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc."
