Hazelwood Man Sentenced to 24 Years in Prison for Producing Child Pornography

ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Monday sentenced a man to 24 years in prison for producing child pornography involving two victims.

Antjuan Potts, 27, of Hazelwood, Missouri, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in August to two counts of sexually exploiting a child and admitted his crimes spanned from 2019 to 2022.

The first victim told a St. Louis County Police Department detective in 2023 that she was 14 when she met Potts and engaged in sexual contact with him. Potts recorded that sexual contact and used Snapchat to send those videos to the victim on two occasions. The victim also said Potts was in a relationship with another juvenile. Police interviewed Potts, who admitted having sex with both juveniles and recording both with his phone.

A sentencing memo says that Potts had sexual intercourse with two other minors, part of a pattern of behavior involving the sexual exploitation of minors. A 15-year-old told police Potts sexually assaulted her in 2020. He said it was consensual. He had sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old in 2021. She told police that she was drugged and sexually assaulted.

"You have caused a tremendous amount of harm," Judge Ross told Potts, referring to the four victims.

The St. Louis County Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Chapman is prosecuting 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.