St. Charles County Man Who Obtained Child Pornography with a Hidden Camera Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Court Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Wednesday sentenced a man who captured images and videos of underage girls with hidden cameras to 17 years in prison.

Dennis J. Naumann, 56, of St. Charles County, Missouri, will be on supervised release for life after his release from prison.

Naumann produced videos and still images of underage girls by concealing video cameras in a bathroom and other places. Naumann admitted uploading at least 50 videos containing child sexual abuse material to Dropbox. He also traded the images and videos he produced with two others so he could get more child sexual abuse material.

One victim wrote in a letter to Judge Schelp that Naumann “stole my girlhood and traded it on the internet.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson said during Wednesday’s sentencing hearing that Naumann began deleting files when he learned he was being investigated, but dozens of videos and pictures were recovered, as were multiple online conversations in which he asked for images or videos containing child sexual abuse material or offered to share what he had. Naumann also searched for that material online, part of what Anderson called a “rapacious appetite for child sexual abuse material.”

Naumann pleaded guilty in June to one count each of attempted production of child pornography and one count of receiving child pornography.

The case was investigated by the St. Charles County Cybercrime Task Force, the St. Charles County Police Department and the FBI.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jillian Anderson and Nathan Chapman prosecuted 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.