Blue Springs Man Pleads Guilty to Producing Child Porn After Being Caught on Nanny Cam

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Blue Springs, Mo., man who was caught sexually assaulting a toddler on a nannycam pleaded guilty in federal court today to producing child pornography.

Jeffrey Laurence Treta, 47, of Blue Springs, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips to two counts of producing child pornography, two counts of producing child obscenity, one count of possessing child pornography and one count of obstructing justice.

Treta was living with his estranged wife and babysitting a 21-month-old child identified as Jane Doe #1 while his wife was away from the house on Jan. 29, 2013. Treta’s wife had installed a nannycam in the master bedroom, which was triggered whenever anyone entered the room. The nannycam recorded Treta bringing Jane Doe #1 into the bedroom, laying the toddler down on the bed, and using his cell phone to record himself sexually assaulting the child victim while he lay in bed with her.

Treta’s wife and son gave law enforcement investigators a SIM card they had innocently retrieved from Treta’s cell phone on a prior occasion. The SIM card contained a video and images of similar child pornography dated 10 days prior to Treta’s recorded assault of Jane Doe #1. Some of the images of this assault were transferred from Treta’s cell phone to his laptop computer.

Treta’s laptop also contained images of two more victims, about 10 years old, identified as Jane Doe #2 and Jane Doe #3. Those images were Photoshopped to make it appear as though the children were engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Treta’s laptop contained hundreds of images from child modeling, nudist and other Web sites, many of which constituted child pornography. Many of the images were of prepubescent children (including toddlers) and a few depict sadistic activity. Other images on Treta’s laptop resembled the Photoshopped images of Jane Doe #2 and Jane Doe #3.

Treta destroyed evidence in anticipation of a police investigation of sexual abuse and child pornography. During the few minutes after police officers had been called, but before they arrived at his residence, Treta deleted a large number of items from his laptop, including images and videos.

Under federal statutes, Treta is subject to a mandatory sentence of 15 years in federal prison without parole. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katharine Fincham. It was investigated by the Blue Springs, Mo., Police Department.

Project Safe Childhood

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."