ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk handed down a 12-year prison sentence to Steven Martin Reich, 56, of St. Louis County, Missouri, on Wednesday. Reich was found guilty of possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
The defendant, who pleaded guilty in April, will also serve a lifetime of supervised release following his prison term. Reich had previously faced charges for first-degree child molestation in 1999.
Reich’s downfall began when he uploaded an image of CSAM to the social media app Kik, under the guise of communicating with a sixth grader named ‘Tasha.’ His communication was exposed as fraudulent when Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) determined that ‘Tasha’ was actually an adult male from Utah. Reich also distributed CSAM to others via Wickr and sought out similar material online.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson prosecuted the case, which was part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide effort against child exploitation and abuse. The initiative, launched by the Department of Justice in 2006, aims to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children online and identify victims.
Investigating the case were agents from HSI, while ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations led the investigation. For more information on Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.
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Key Facts
- State: Missouri
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Fraud & Financial Crimes|Violent Crime|Sex Crimes|Cybercrime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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