Former Abilene preschool teacher sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for producing child pornography

A former Abilene preschool teacher, Mark Penfield Eichorn, was sentenced today to 30 years in federal prison for producing child pornography, announced Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham.  Eichorn admitted that he paid two young boys, ages 12 and 13, to record videos of themselves performing sexual acts on each other.

Mark Penfield Eichorn, 28, was indicted in June 2024 and pleaded guilty in October 2024 to Production of Child Pornography.  He was sentenced to 360 months’ imprisonment, the statutory maximum, by U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix, who also ordered Eichorn to pay $66,087.50 in restitution.

“Stopping horrendous acts against children, such as those in this case, is a core mission of this Office,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Chad E. Meacham.  “We hope that the maximum punishment in this case serves as a message to other child predators, and that the victims and their families find some measure of comfort knowing that this abuser will be off the streets for a very long time.”

“This defendant made the depraved decision to exploit children, not only failing to meet any standard of human decency but choosing to victimize them through the production of sexually explicit materials,” said Special Agent in Charge Travis Pickard Homeland Security Investigations Dallas.  “I’m grateful for the collaborative effort between our law enforcement partners who assisted in this investigation, ensuring Mr. Eichorn will spend the next 30 years behind bars, unable to harm an innocent child again.”

According to court documents, Eichorn admitted to struggling with desires to sexually assault children since 2019.  During this time, he continued to work with children.  He also admitted to being involved in child pornography trading groups across various Internet platforms, such as Kik and Telegram.  Eichorn confessed to possessing and trading prepubescent child pornography online.  Among the disturbing material was a video involving a child between the ages of 10 and 12-years-old engaged in sexually explicit conduct. 

At the time of his arrest, Eichorn was employed as a teacher at a local private school. Eichorn initiated contact with one of the child victims in this case and offered to send him $100 per week to be his “Sugar Daddy.”  Eichorn admitted that he subsequently paid both victims hundreds of dollars to produce videos of themselves engaged in sexually explicit conduct. 

At sentencing, Judge Hendrix told Eichorn that the maximum sentence is warranted especially for “protection of the public.”  In imposing the maximum sentence, Judge Hendrix said, “I have to make a lot of difficult decisions.  This is not one of them.”

Acting U.S. Attorney Meacham praised the joint efforts of the law enforcement agencies that conducted the investigation, including Homeland Security Investigations—Abilene Resident Agency, the Abilene Police Department, and the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Whitney Ohlhausen prosecuted the case.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative, which was launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the 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 sexually exploit children, and identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc.  For more information about internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”