KC Man Sentenced to 17 Years for Child Pornography

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Missouri, man was sentenced in federal court today for soliciting images and videos of child pornography from several child victims and others online.

Charles Ray Sheppard, 33, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to 17 years and six months in federal prison without parole.

On July 8, 2021, Sheppard pleaded guilty to one count of receiving child pornography over the internet and one count of possessing child pornography.

Sheppard admitted that he engaged in sexual contact with a 5-or-6-year-old child victim when he was 18 or 19 years old, then reconnected with the child victim through the Facebook Messenger application in 2017, when the child victim was 13 years old. Sheppard and the child victim exchanged pornographic photos during their online conversations.

Investigators seized two cell phones from Sheppard, one of which also contained several conversations between Sheppard and another Kik user in which Sheppard requested and received images and videos of child pornography of unknown minor children. Investigators discovered 38 photos and two videos of child pornography within the cell phone’s Kik communications.

Sheppard also sent multiple nude images of himself to a 14-year-old child victim. Sheppard also admitted that he performed live sexual acts with a 13-year-old child victim on the Kik application.

When Sheppard was arrested on June 9, 2020, he possessed a third cell phone that contained child pornography.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Luna. It was investigated by the FBI.

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."