Jefferson County Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Sex Acts with Teen

ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Divine on Wednesday sentenced a Jefferson County, Missouri man who engaged in sex acts with a 13-year-old and requested and obtained nude photos of her to 20 years in prison.

Anthony A. Moore, now 49, engaged in sex acts with the victim in 2023 and 2024, beginning when she was 13 and he was 46. The victim's father reported to law enforcement that he went through her cell phone and discovered communications between Moore and his daughter, including Moore's requests for nude photos of her. Investigators found images of her on Moore's phone after his arrest.

Moore pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in March to one count of receipt of child pornography.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson 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 https://www.justice.gov/psc.