St. Charles County Man Sentenced to 12 Years on Child Pornography Charges

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel on Friday sentenced a man from St. Charles County who possessed and shared child pornography over social media to 12 years in prison.

Judge Sippel also ordered James Schoggins, 42, to pay a total of $12,000 to four victims whose images he shared online.

Schoggins pleaded guilty in October to one felony count of possession of child pornography. He admitted possessing 421 videos and 148 images of child pornography. He had videos and images on his computer of a girl dating back to when she was 13 or 14. Schoggins told the minor what type of images and videos to send to him and engaged in sexual communications with her, his plea says.

Schoggins also sent child pornography via Kik Messenger and recommended a way to share child sexual abuse material. Claiming to be a 17-year-old male, Schoggins contacted a 16-year-old via WhatsApp and exchanged nude pictures with her.

After Schoggins accessed child pornography on his Snapchat account, the company reported him to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, triggering an investigation by law enforcement.

The case was investigated by the St. Charles County Cybercrime Task Force and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is handling 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.