19 ½ Years In Prison For Man Who Produced Child Porn Images For Rent Money

Springfield, Ill. – U.S. District Judge Sue E. Myerscough today sentenced Anthony L. Ferguson, 25, to serve 235 months (19 years, 7 months) in federal prison and to remain on supervised release for life following his release from prison. Ferguson has been detained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest in March 2012, along with co-defendant Laura J. Sigler, 26.

In July 2012, Ferguson entered an open plea of guilty to using a five-year-old child to produce child pornography in November 2011, when Ferguson and Sigler were living at the Budget Inn in Lincoln, Ill. According to court documents, Ferguson and Sigler used the images of child pornography to secure rent money. On Dec. 6, 2012, Sigler pled guilty to the offense. Sentencing for Sigler is scheduled on Apr. 15, 2013.

The case was investigated by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations and the Lincoln Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy A. Bass prosecuted the case on behalf of the government.

The case was prosecuted under 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 Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.projectsafechildhood.gov.