Press Release
Columbia Man Sentenced to 23 Years for Producing Child Pornography
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Missouri
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Columbia, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for producing child pornography.
Sergio Antonio Dominguez-Gonzalez, 23, of Columbia, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to 23 years and four months in federal prison without parole.
Dominguez-Gonzalez, who pleaded guilty on May 15, 2017, admitted that he sexually abused a 2-year-old child victim to produce child pornography, which he distributed over the Internet.
An undercover detective in Washington, D.C., posted numerous online bulletin messages on specific social media forums, which were Web sites frequented by individuals with a sexual interest in children and incest. The bulletin messages were intended to attract individuals with a sexual interest in children. On Feb. 21, 2017, Dominguez-Gonzalez sent an e-mail to the undercover detective.
During the course of their e-mail conversation and later instant messaging, Dominguez-Gonzalez stated that he had sexual contact with a 2-year-old victim for the first time “recently” and had made two videos of himself molesting the victim. Dominguez-Gonzalez admitted he sent one of the videos, as well as screen shots from the video, to the undercover detective. He also told the undercover detective that he showed images of adult pornography to the victim “so she knows that (sic) girls do.”
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashley S. Turner. It was investigated by the FBI, the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and the Boone County Sheriff’s Department Cyber Crimes Task Force.
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."
Updated October 23, 2017
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Project Safe Childhood
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