United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri

07/09/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/09/2025 15:24

Former School Custodian Sentenced for Possessing Child Pornography

Press Release

Former School Custodian Sentenced for Possessing Child Pornography

Wednesday, July 9, 2025
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For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Missouri

ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Wednesday sentenced a former high school custodian who bought child sexual abuse material to 63 months in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release.

Bernard Ray Mennemeier uploaded five videos containing child sexual abuse material to Dropbox, triggering an FBI investigation. The FBI conducted a court-approved search of Mennemeier's Dropbox account, and then Mennemeier's home. Mennemeier was in possession of both child pornography and child erotica. He admitted messaging someone on Twitter who sold him child sexual abuse material "numerous" times, his plea agreement says.

"This case was especially concerning given that Bernard Mennemeier was working in a high school at the time he possessed child sexual abuse material," said Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. "In addition to spending 63 months in federal prison, Mennemeier will never be allowed to work around children again because he will have to register as a sex offender."

Mennemeier, 58, of O'Fallon, Missouri, pleaded guilty in April to one count of possession of child pornography.

The FBI investigated 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.

Contact

Robert Patrick, Public Affairs Officer, robert.patrick@usdoj.gov.

Updated July 9, 2025
Topic
Project Safe Childhood
Components
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
USAO - Missouri, Eastern
United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri published this content on July 09, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on July 09, 2025 at 21:24 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at support@pubt.io