St. Charles Man Sentenced to 40 Years in Prison for Recording Sexual Abuse of 2 Girls

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Friday sentenced a St. Charles, Missouri man who recorded his sexual abuse of two young girls for years to 40 years in prison. 

Ronald C. Lawrence sexually abused two girls for years, starting when one was just 7 years old. He recorded that abuse and shared those images with others online. 

The victims’ mother spoke in court, saying Lawrence had destroyed their lives and violated the trust they once had in him.

Lawrence also downloaded and possessed child sexual abuse material involving other children, and Judge Pitlyk ordered him to pay restitution of $3,000 to one of those children whose identity is known. Lawrence directed a third juvenile victim that he met via social media to create and send him videos of child pornography and asked the victim and another person to send him exploitative images of their younger siblings.

Lawrence, 25, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to two counts of production of child pornography, two counts of distribution of child pornography and one count of receiving child pornography.

The FBI, the St. Charles Police Department, the St. Charles County Police Department  and the FBI 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.