Jace Hickman Sentenced to 20 Years for Child Pornography

ST. LOUIS – In a stunning ruling, Jace Chandler Hickman, a 42-year-old registered sex offender from Washington County, has been handed a 20-year sentence for his sinister online pursuit of child pornography. The sentence, the maximum allowable under federal law, was imposed by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Tuesday.

Hickman, who operated under aliases Chandler Scott and Chandler Dickman on Facebook, engaged in sexually explicit conversations with a 13-year-old girl, convincing her to send him an explicit photo. His brazen pursuit of child pornography was thwarted when he began communicating through Facebook Messenger, a platform that eventually led to his capture.

Hickman’s previous conviction for possession of child pornography in Maries County, Missouri, in 2018, which had already landed him on the sex offender registry, meant that this crime carried a mandatory minimum prison term of 10 years. The judge upheld the upper limit, sending Hickman to prison for two decades.

Investigating agencies included the FBI, St. Clair Police Department, and Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Bateman spearheading the prosecution. This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation.

Project Safe Childhood has been instrumental in identifying, apprehending, and prosecuting individuals who exploit children online. For more information on this crucial effort, visit www.justice.gov/psc.