Kansas City Man Pleads Guilty to Distributing Child Pornography

KANSAS CITY, MO—Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Missouri, man pled guilty in federal court today to distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Louis James Inzerillo, 48, of Kansas City, waived his right to a grand jury indictment and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Scott O. Wright to a federal information that charges him with distributing child pornography.

Inzerillo admitted that he had been viewing child pornography for more than 10 years, and shared some of his own collection of thousands of child pornography images through a peer-to-peer file-sharing network.

According to today’s plea agreement, an FBI agent in New York discovered Inzerillo’s criminal activity during an undercover investigation in March 2009. The agent downloaded several images of child pornography from Inzerillo’s computer via the peer-to-peer network. A search warrant was executed at Inzerillo’s residence on Sept. 22, 2009, and multiple computer and other electronic storage media were seized. Multiple printed-out images of child pornography were also seized. Investigators discovered both photos and movies of child pornography, including images of children under the age of 12. Some of the content included children in bondage and other violent sexual content with children.

By pleading guilty today, Inzerillo also agreed to forfeit to the government any property used to commit the offense, including three laptop computers, six desktop computers, and various electronic storage media.

Under federal statutes, Inzerillo is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of 20 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000 and an order of restitution. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katharine Fincham. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Project Safe Childhood

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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.projectsafechildhood.gov.