St. Louis County Man Caught Sharing Child Pornography with Police

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis County, Missouri on Wednesday admitted being caught sharing child sexual abuse material with an undercover police officer

James C. Astorian, 40, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of possession of child pornography. He admitted sharing multiple images and videos containing child sexual abuse material with a St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officer in January of 2020 via a peer-to-peer network. St. Louis County police conducted a court-approved search of Astorian’s home and recovered electronic devices containing 6,110 images and 728 videos containing child pornography. Astorian told investigators that he has been searching for and downloading child pornography for about two years.

Astorian is scheduled to be sentenced on August 13. The crime carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson 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.