Hartville Man Sentenced to 30 Years for Producing Child Porn

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Hartville, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for producing child pornography.

Edward Penn, 32, of Hartville, was sentenced by U.S District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 30 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Penn to supervised release for the rest of his life following incarceration. Penn has been in federal custody since his arrest on Dec. 10, 2014.

On Nov. 18, 2015, Penn pleaded guilty to the sexual exploitation of a child. Penn admitted that he used a minor, identified as Jane Doe #1, to produce child pornography from Jan. 1, 2013, to Oct. 3, 2014.

Penn admitted that he used his cell phone to take nude photographs of a child under the age of five. Penn took the pictures of the child while she was lying on his bed. Penn sent the images of the child to another individual via MMS messaging on his phone.

Penn also admitted that he had received images of child pornography on his cell phone from a co-worker.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cybercrime Task Force and Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

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."