Judge sentences Palmyra, Missouri man for possession of child pornography

ST. LOUIS – Stephen Lawrence, age 70, of Palmyra, Missouri, appeared before United States District Court Judge Steven R. Clark on today’s date.  Based on a previous plea of guilty, Lawrence was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for possession of child pornography.   

According to the plea agreement, on or about March 17, 2020, Microsoft reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that an individual, later identified to be Stephen Lawrence, utilized a Microsoft peer-to-peer account to obtain child pornography.

On June 2, 2020, law enforcement contacted Lawrence at his residence in Palmyra, Missouri, where he consented to law enforcement seizing and examining multiple electronic devices. It was determined that on or before June 2, 2020, the defendant possessed over sixty-nine thousand images and over nineteen hundred videos containing child pornography. 

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force at the St. Charles County Police Department.