Christopher D. Cotton, Child Pornography Possession, Missouri 2023

ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis County, Missouri has admitted to possessing a large collection of child pornography, according to a recent guilty plea in federal court.

Christopher D. Cotton, 32, pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of receiving child pornography. The charge carries a potential penalty of five to 20 years in prison, along with a fine of up to $250,000.

Cotton admitted to uploading files containing child pornography to Dropbox, which triggered a report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and an investigation. On July 13, 2022, law enforcement officers executed a court-approved search warrant at Cotton’s home in St. Louis County near Florissant.

Cotton told officers that he had viewed and collected child pornography, and also admitted to receiving it from ‘maybe fifteen or more’ minors with whom he had contact via social media. The youngest of these minors was 13 years old, according to Cotton.

Investigators found a total of at least 16,677 images and 46,414 videos of child pornography stored online and on Cotton’s electronic devices, including a laptop and three cell phones.

The case was investigated by the Maryland Heights Police Department, the St. Louis County Special Investigations Unit, and the FBI. 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. The initiative was launched in May 2006 by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.

Related Federal Cases