NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

MATT J. WHITWORTH

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

MARCH 4, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PROJECT SAFE CHILDHOOD

CLARKSBURG WOMAN INDICTED FOR PRODUCING

CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Matt J. Whitworth, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Clarksburg, Mo., woman has been indicted by a federal grand jury for producing child pornography.

Priscilla Ramirez Flores, 37, of Clarksburg, was charged in a federal indictment that was returned under seal on March 2, 2009. That indictment was unsealed and made public today upon Flores’ arrest and initial court appearance. The government is seeking to have Flores detained without bond until trial; a detention hearing will be at 9:30 a.m. Friday, March 6, 2009.

The federal indictment alleges that, from as early as November 2004 to May 2005, Flores permitted a minor in her custody to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography.

Whitworth cautioned that the charge contained in this indictment is simply an accusation, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charge must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

Under federal statutes, Flores is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Lynn. It was investigated by the State Technical Assistance Team, the Missouri Attorney General’s High technology and Computer Crime Unit, the Moniteau County, Mo., Prosecutor’s Office, the California, Mo., Police Department, the Moniteau County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, and the Missouri Division of Family Services.

Project Safe Childhood

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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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