Franklin County, Missouri Man Indicted on Child Sex Charge

ST. LOUIS – A man from Franklin County, Missouri has been accused of filming a sex act with a child in June.

Brandon Daniel Espinoza, 19, made his first appearance in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Friday and pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual exploitation of a child. He was indicted August 23.

The indictment accuses Espinoza of filming a sex act with a 5-year-old boy in June.

The charge carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years. 

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Warren County Sheriff's Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Chapman is 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 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.