Sex Offender Sentenced to 200 years in Prison for New Crime Against Children

ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Monday sentenced a convicted sex offender to 200 years in prison for a new crime against children.

Judge Autrey also ordered Jason Levi Meyrand, 31, of Jefferson County, Missouri, to pay $6,000 in restitution to his victims.

Meyrand pleaded guilty in August to four counts of production of child pornography. He admitted sexually abusing two children in 2022 and sharing images of that abuse in a group devoted to child sexual abuse material on the social media application Kik. A detective with the North Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force spotted a posting by Meyrand in the Kik group in January 2023, sparking the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Lang pointed out in court that Meyrand's criminal conduct happened about six months after he finished his state sentence for the sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl. In 2014, Meyrand was convicted in Bates County, Missouri of child molestation and endangering the welfare of a child.

The FBI, the North Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the St. Louis County Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Lang 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.