A Missouri man has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison for possessing child sexual abuse material. U.S. District Judge John A. Ross sentenced Davie John Metzger, 55, of O’Fallon, Missouri, to 78 months in federal prison on Thursday.
Metzger was also ordered to pay $24,000 in restitution to identified victims and an additional $40,000 that will be directed toward other child pornography victims and victim services.
Authorities found 369 images of child sexual abuse material on a flash drive belonging to Metzger. Additional images were located on a hard drive (24 images), an online cloud storage account (211 images), and a cell phone (343 images). Metzger’s actions led to three CyberTipline reports being made to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Investigators who searched his online account with court approval discovered photos he had secretly taken of women and girls in public settings.
In April, Metzger pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of receipt of child pornography.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI and the St. Charles County Cybercrime Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson prosecuted the case.
“This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims,” according to information provided by officials. Further details about Project Safe Childhood are available at www.justice.gov/psc.
