Man Caught with Child Pornography After Approaching Children Sentenced to 11 Years in Prison

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White on Wednesday sentenced a man caught with child pornography after approaching children in Kirkwood to 11 years in prison.

On April 12, 2022, Kirkwood Police Department officers were investigating allegations that Darrell Ray Sanders had approached children on the street. They identified Sanders as a person of interest and arrested him. At the police station, he admitted having child pornography on his cell phone. Investigators found images and videos containing child sexual abuse material on two cell phones belonging to Sanders.

Sanders, 29, of Jefferson County, Missouri, pleaded guilty in February in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of receiving child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography.

The Kirkwood Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Chapman 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.