St. Louis County Man Sentenced to 151 Months in Prison on Child Sex-Related Charges

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Tuesday sentenced a former paramedic / firefighter from St. Louis County to 151 months in prison on child sex-related charges.

Judge Pitlyk also ordered David S. Becker, 70, to pay $17,000 to victims who have appeared in child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and ordered him to be placed on supervised release for life after his release from prison.
    
In August, jurors in U.S. District Court in St. Louis found Becker guilty of one count of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor and one count of possession of child pornography. Trial evidence and testimony showed that Becker began corresponding with a person on a nudist website. That person claimed to be the mother of an 11-year-old girl in France. Becker and the person discussed having sex with each other and the child. He also sent her an image of child sexual abuse material in October of 2022. Becker bought plane tickets for France and obtained an extended-stay visa, planning to travel there in June of 2023, evidence and testimony showed.

At the time, investigators were already working on a cyber tipline report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about someone uploading child sexual abuse material (CSAM). On May 22, 2023, investigators conducted a court-approved search of Becker’s home. Becker admitted planning the trip to France to meet the mother and her daughter. Investigators found CSAM on Becker’s electronic devices, as well as years of communications about Becker’s plans to sexually abuse the child, evidence and testimony showed.

After the trial, additional electronic devices were discovered that showed Becker corresponding with someone else who claimed to be the mother of a young girl, according to court testimony.

Judge Pitlyk told Becker near the end of Tuesday’s hearing that the evidence at trial showed both that he “fully intended” to sexually abuse a child in France and the danger he poses to the community.

The St. Louis County Police Dept. Special Investigations Unit, the FBI and the Maryland Heights Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jillian Anderson and Michael Hayes 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 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.