Kansas City Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Distributing Child Pornography

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

Louis James Inzerillo, 48, of Kansas City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Scott O. Wright to 15 years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Inzerillo to forfeit to the government three laptop computers, six desktop computers, and various electronic storage media, all of which were used to commit the offense.

On Oct. 6, 2010, Inzerillo pleaded guilty to 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.

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.

This case was 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.