Source: Office of United States Attorneys
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Lawson, Mo., man who is a registered sex offender has been sentenced in federal court for distributing child pornography over the internet.
Lance M. Berry, 37, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs on Thursday, Dec. 19, to 17 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Berry to 10 years of supervised release following incarceration and ordered him to pay $33,000 in restitution to his victims.
On Aug. 7, 2024, Berry pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child pornography over the internet.
Berry has a prior Ray County, Mo., conviction for the deviate sexual assault of a child under the age of 13, which requires him to register as a sex offender.
Berry admitted that he utilized a peer-to-peer file-sharing program on June 1, 2022, to make images and videos of child pornography available to other users over the internet. On that day, an undercover officer with the Missouri State Highway Patrol was able to directly connect to Berry’s cell phone and download 14 videos of child pornography.
According to court documents, Berry’s cell phone contained 944 unique images of child pornography, including 19 images of sadistic or masochistic violence against a minor, and 168 images featuring infants or toddlers. There were an additional 40 videos of child pornography, which also included depictions of sadistic or masochistic violence and/or infants and toddlers.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth W. Borgnino. It was investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the FBI.
Project Safe Childhood
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”