Man Convicted for Running Four Dark Web Child Sexual Abuse Websites

A federal jury convicted a Missouri man yesterday for running four websites dedicated to sharing images of child sexual abuse.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Clint Robert Schram, 54, of Kansas City, hosted, managed, and maintained four different websites from his home. Each of these websites operated over the “dark web,” and each was devoted to advertising, distributing, and exchanging images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children. One of the websites allowed members to post images of children as young as 2 years old, and another had no restrictions on the types of child sexual abuse images that could be shared. Schram advertised and distributed child sexual abuse images over these websites, and he recruited, managed, and directed different tiers of “staff” members who helped run the websites. 

Schram was convicted of one count of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise and four counts each of advertisement of child pornography and conspiracy to advertise child pornography. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 12 and faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Teresa A. Moore for the Western District of Missouri, Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, and Special Agent in Charge Charles A. Dayoub of the FBI Kansas City Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI’s Child Exploitation Operational Unit and Kansas City Field Office investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Kyle P. Reynolds of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alison D. Dunning and David Luna for the Western District of Missouri are prosecuting 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 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.