ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge Zachary M. Bluestone on Wednesday sentenced a registered sex offender who exchanged child sexual abuse material on Snapchat and raped a woman in 2024 to 20 years in prison.

Michael A. Driemeier, 32, of Bonne Terre, will be on supervised release for life after his release from prison. Driemeier pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in February to possession of child pornography as a prior offender.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol was first alerted by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in November of 2024 that Driemeier had distributed child sexual abuse material (CSAM) via Snapchat. Investigators found Driemeier on Jan. 9, 2025, shopping with a young child. He consented to a search of his cell phone, which revealed CSAM and an exchange of CSAM with another Snapchat user. He later admitted obtaining CSAM and sending it to others, his plea agreement says. Driemeier also admitted as part of his plea that he raped a 20-year-old female acquaintance in a hotel room in February of 2024.

On April 6, 2018, Driemeier was convicted in St. Francois County Circuit Court of second-degree statutory rape and sentenced to five years in prison. The victim in that case was 13.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Missouri State Technical Assistance Team and the Bonne Terre Police Department 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.