St. Charles County Man Admits Collecting Child Pornography for Years

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Charles County, Missouri on Wednesday admitted collecting child sexual abuse material for years.

Philip Daniel Shurtliff, 34, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to two counts of receipt of child pornography and admitted being caught with child sexual abuse material twice. In March of 2021, the St. Charles County Cyber Crimes Task Force received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that someone used Kik Messenger to send child pornography. Detectives traced a Kik account to Shurtliff and performed a court-approved search of his home in April of 2021. Shurtliff told them that he obtained child pornography and sent it to someone to gain access to a Kik group. Investigators found five videos on his cell phone. 

In 2023, the task force received a second report from NCMEC about child sexual abuse material that led them to Shurtliff’s home again, where they arrested Shurtliff in relation to the 2021 report. Shurliff told detectives that he is a “monster” and has been trading child pornography for approximately 19 years. Detectives found 97 images and 27 videos containing child pornography on his cell phone.

Shurtliff is scheduled to be sentenced May 21. The receipt of child pornography charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of up to 20 years.

The St. Charles County Cyber Crimes Task Force investigated the case. 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.