Belton Man Guilty of Production, Transportation, and Possession of Child Pornography and Cyberstalking of a Minor

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Belton, Mo., man pleaded guilty to production of child pornography, transportation of child pornography, possession of child pornography, and cyberstalking of a minor.

Carter Anderson, 32, was charged by an indictment in December 2025 for Anderson's criminal conduct occurring between October 2021 through January 2025. In his guilty plea, Anderson admitted that he engaged in a course of conduct in which he obtained sexually explicit images and videos of three minor victims by various means, including through a pattern of threats over the internet. Anderson admitted that he met one of his minor victims through the Snapchat messaging application. Anderson admitted that, after obtaining the minor victim's sexually explicit images and videos, he threatened to publicly release them if the minor victim did not send him additional and increasingly graphic sexually explicit images and videos.

Under federal statutes, the defendant is subject to a sentence of not less than 15 years and up to 70 years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Luna. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Heart of America Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory.

Project Safe Childhood

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."