Missouri Man Sentenced to 75 Months in Prison for Possessing Child Pornography

ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Wednesday sentenced a man who admitted possessing child pornography and participating in online discussions about the rape of children to 75 months in prison.

Stephen E.R. Marez, 32, of St. Francois County, was also ordered to pay $9,000 in restitution.

Marez pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in August to one count of receiving child pornography. He admitted exchanging child pornography and discussing the rape of children with two people online. The Indiana State Police were investigating one of the men participating in those discussions, who led them to Marez. On July 14, 2023, a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper conducted a traffic stop and seized Marez' cell phone, which contained child sexual abuse material. A July 19, 2023, court-approved search of his home recovered electronic devices that contained more than 2,000 files containing child pornography, including 249 images and 137 videos depicting minors who have been identified by law enforcement, his plea agreement says.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Missouri State Technical Assistance Team, the St. Francois County Sheriff's Office, the Farmington Police Department, the Park Hills Police Department and the Indiana State Police investigated the case. 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 launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.