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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
BRADLEY J. SCHLOZMAN
Contact Jim Cross
(316) 269-6481
400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510
Kansas City, MO 64106
www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow
SEPTEMBER 7, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PENNSYLVANIA MAN SENTENCED FOR PERSUADING A MINOR TO PRODUCE CHILD PORN
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Bradley J. Schlozman, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Pennsylvania man was sentenced in federal court today for persuading a northwest Missouri girl to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography.
Jeffrey Stephen Thomas, 37, of Philadelphia, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs this morning to 15 years in federal prison without parole followed a term of 20 years of supervised release. The court also ordered Thomas to pay $13,033 in restitution for psychological counseling for the victim. Because Thomas is unable to pay the full amount of restitution, the court ordered that interest compound and that 25 percent of the defendant's earnings be garnished during his incarceration at a work facility.
On March 6, 2006, Thomas pleaded guilty to enticing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography. Thomas admitted that he communicated with the victim, who was 14 years old when they met in an Internet chat room in September 2003, over a two-year period via telephone and private instant-messaging. Thomas eventually escalated these conversations to become sexual in nature, Schlozman said, and urged her to mail to him sexually explicit photos of herself. She refused initially, but after persistent requests from Thomas, later photographed herself in sexually explicit poses and mailed the photos to Thomas.
"As so often happens, a young victim was deceived by the false intimacy of an Internet relationship," Schlozman said. "Sexual predators often lie about their background and about their motives and intentions, and use that deception to groom their victims and take advantage of their trust."
In this case, Schlozman explained, Thomas told the victim that he was going to take her away from her troubled home life and back with him to Pennsylvania to begin a life together. "He weaved a fairy tale of living happily ever after," Schlozman said, "getting married, having children, giving her a new house, an SUV, dogs, and a better life away from her home and parents."
Thomas told the victim that he would travel to Missouri, pick her up, and drive them back together to Pennsylvania to begin their life together.
On April 15, 2005, Thomas traveled from his Pennsylvania residence and picked up the victim near her home in northwest Missouri. But instead of taking her back with him to Pennsylvania as they had previously discussed, he took her to a local Comfort Inn hotel. Over the next two days, Thomas engaged in a variety of sexual conduct with the victim. Thomas only left the hotel room to obtain food and KY lubricant.
At the end of the weekend, Thomas deposited the victim near her home. "He lied to her again," Schlozman said, "when he promised to return for her and take her back with him to Pennsylvania, after covering his tracks better."
The photos Thomas coerced the victim take of herself were found at his residence during the execution of a federal search warrant.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia L. Phillips. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Nodaway County, Mo., Sheriff's Department.