Merrick B. Garland, Attorney General | https://www.justice.gov/
Merrick B. Garland, Attorney General | https://www.justice.gov/
U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk sentenced James Darrick Beeler, a registered sex offender from Glenwood, Missouri, to 10 years in prison on Wednesday for possessing child pornography.
Beeler, aged 53, was found with over 200 videos of child sexual abuse material on his laptop and two thumb drives. The Missouri State Highway Patrol traced the sharing of two such videos via a peer-to-peer file-sharing program back to Beeler's residence on June 29, 2022. Beeler admitted to using his laptop to search for and download this illegal content.
In May, Beeler pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of possession of child pornography. His criminal history includes a conviction for child abuse in Schuyler County in 2007.
The case was investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Bateman.
This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to address the growing problem of child sexual exploitation and abuse. The project aims to enhance efforts at federal, state, and local levels to apprehend offenders who exploit children online and rescue victims.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.
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