A St. Louis County man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for sharing child sexual abuse material with an undercover police officer. U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark handed down the sentence on Monday, also ordering James C. Astorian to pay $10,000 in restitution to victims identified in the images.
Astorian was found with 6,110 images and 728 videos containing child sexual abuse material after an investigation revealed he had shared multiple files with a St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officer through a peer-to-peer network. According to a government sentencing memorandum, Astorian admitted to trafficking in such material for about two years, and some of the images were described as “notably violent.”
In March, Astorian pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of possession of child pornography.
The case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the St. Louis County Police Department, and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson prosecuted the case.
The prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, a national initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 that brings together federal, state, and local resources to address child exploitation online and help identify and rescue victims. More information about Project Safe Childhood can be found at www.justice.gov/psc.
