Lake Placid man sentenced to 20 years for production of child pornography

MIAMI – On April 2, a Lake Placid man was sentenced to 240 months in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release after previously pleading guilty to production of visual depictions involving sexual exploitation of minors.

Frederick Anderson Bowen, 77, of Lake Placid, Florida, recorded himself performing oral sex on a child. Highlands County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) deputies located the video saved on Bowen’s cellphone.

U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida; Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri of the FBI, Miami Field Office, and Sheriff Paul Blackman of HCSO announced the sentenced imposed by U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman. 

FBI Miami, Fort Pierce Resident Agency and HCSO investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Hudock prosecuted it.

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 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.

To report an incident involving the possession, distribution, receipt, or production of child pornography, you can file a report on the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)’s website at www.cybertipline.com, call 1-800-843-5678, or contact the FBI directly at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324). 

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 23-cr-14028.

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