St. Louis County Man Sentenced to 27 Years in Prison for Statutory Rape of Foster Child

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Friday sentenced a man from St. Louis County, Missouri who impregnated a minor and sexually abused her when she was in foster care to 27 years in prison.
 
Edward L. Wiseman, 43, sexually abused a minor for multiple years and impregnated her when she was 14. After she was placed in foster care, Wiseman sent her naked pictures of himself and requested the same from her. He then arranged to meet her for sex when she was 16.

That victim’s younger sister told authorities that Wiseman had also sexually abused her. Wiseman disputes those allegations.

Law enforcement officers later found child pornography on Wiseman’s phone.

Judge Ross told Wiseman in Friday’s hearing that his conduct was “horrendous” and that he represented a “continuing threat” to the community.

Wiseman, 43, pleaded guilty in March in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to two felonies: coercion and enticement of a minor and solicitation of child pornography.

“Today, Mr. Wiseman will begin to pay for his crimes against an innocent child,” said Special Agent in Charge Travis Gibson of the U.S. Secret Service’s St. Louis Field Office. “The Secret Service is proud to support Project Safe Childhood, and we commend our law enforcement partners for their tireless work to put an end to this devastating abuse.”

The U.S. Secret Service, the North County Police Cooperative and the St. Louis County Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson 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.