St. Louis man sentenced to 25 years for producing child pornography

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Thursday sentenced a St. Louis man who created child pornography and sold it online to 25 years in federal prison to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release.

Kailon Vontez Lewis made four pornographic videos involving an underage girl, and then sold the videos online for $40 each. He also admitted possessing thousands of images containing child porn.

Investigators were alerted by multiple tips to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about Lewis.

Lewis, 23, pleaded guilty in December to one count of production of child pornography.

The case was investigated by the FBI.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Bateman 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. 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.