ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Cristian M. Stevens on Thursday sentenced a Franklin County man who produced child sexual abuse material to 25 years in prison.

Justin E. Faldon, 36, took several photographs of young children, and possessed other images containing child sexual abuse material (CSAM). He also admitted distributing CSAM online. The investigation of Faldon began in December of 2024, when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children alerted the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office that Faldon had uploaded and distributed CSAM via the Kik app. Records from Kik Messenger revealed that Faldon was a member of several chat groups devoted to the subjects of incest, minors and sexual violence.

Faldon plead guilty in July in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to two felony counts: production of child pornography and distribution of child pornography.

The Franklin 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 www.justice.gov/psc.