St. Charles Man Admits Buying Child Pornography Online

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Charles, Missouri on Friday admitted buying child sexual abuse material online. 

Charles Lionel McGilberry, 41, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of receiving child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. He admitted making two separate purchases of child sexual abuse material on Aug. 28, 2022. Investigators later found 768 videos and 29 images containing child pornography in his Apple iCloud account and 152 videos and 2 images on his cell phone.

McGilberry is scheduled to be sentenced on October 23. He faces a mandatory minimum term of five years in prison. Each crime is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Chapman 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.