KC Man Indicted for Producing Child Pornography

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Kansas City, Mo., man was indicted by a federal grand jury today for producing child pornography.

Leonardo Leon, 25, was charged in a two-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo. Today's indictment replaces a federal criminal complaint that was filed against Leon on Oct. 14, 2024.

The federal indictment alleges that Leon used a minor victim to produce child pornography from Aug. 1 to Sept. 2, 2024. The indictment also charges Leon with distributing child pornography.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the original criminal complaint, law enforcement officers were dispatched to Children's Mercy Hospital shortly after midnight on Sept. 3, 2024, when a 15-year-old victim suffered a fatal drug overdose. In the course of their investigation, officers learned that Leon had been communicating on Instagram with the child victim's best friend. This witness told officers that Leon was having sex with the child victim and, about a week after the child victim's death, had sent her a video of them having sex.

Investigators searched Leon's Instagram account, the affidavit says, and found three video clips he had sent to the witness of himself engaging in sex with the child victim.

The charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth W. Borgnino. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department.

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."