A Missouri man has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for receiving child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri. Paul Lewis Sanders, 41, from Warren County, will also serve a life term of supervised release following his prison sentence.
Sanders pleaded guilty in September to one count of receiving child pornography. Authorities began investigating after a complaint was made to the Warren County Sheriff’s Department in February 2023. During the investigation, law enforcement discovered child sexual abuse material on Sanders’ cell phone.
Sanders has a prior conviction from 2004 for aggravated criminal sexual abuse in Macoupin County, Illinois.
The case was investigated by the Warren County Sheriff’s Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Drake 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.”
