Northland Man Sentenced for Child Porn

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for attempting to distribute child pornography over the Internet.

Steven H. Taylor, 26, of Kansas City-North, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark to eight years in federal prison without parole. Taylor pleaded guilty on Dec. 30, 2015.

An undercover federal agent identified Taylor’s computer as sharing images of child pornography over the Internet through a peer-to-peer file-sharing network. The agent downloaded a video file of child pornography from Taylor’s computer.

The agent executed a search warrant at Taylor’s residence and seized his electronic media. Taylor admitted that he had been downloading child pornography for the past two years. Investigators identified more than 30 images and 39 videos of child pornography on Taylor’s computers. A number of the videos depicted graphic, violent sexual abuse of children. In particular, one video lasted 33 minutes and depicted an adult male sodomizing a young female approximately 12 years of age.

Taylor has paid $3,000 in restitution to one of the victims portrayed in the child pornography collection. Taylor must forfeit two desktop computers, which were used to commit the offense, to the government.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine A. Connelly. It was investigated by the FBI and the Nixa, 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."