Former KC Physician Sentenced for Distributing Child Pornography

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A former Kansas City, Mo., physician was sentenced in federal court today for distributing child pornography over the internet. 

Jeffrey A. Hassenflug, 42, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner to seven years and six months in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Hassenflug to 10 years of supervised release following incarceration. The court ordered Hassenflug to pay $15,000 in restitution to his victims, which has been paid in full.

Hassenflug, who pleaded guilty on April 25, 2018, was a resident physician in Kansas City, Mo., before moving to Texas in 2016, where he was employed as an emergency room physician.

Hassenflug admitted that he used peer-to-peer file-sharing software to download child pornography and to share child pornography over the internet. Investigators found 3,047 images of child pornography and 131 videos of child pornography (some as long as 48 minutes in length) on Hassenflug’s laptop computer and other electronic devices.

Hassenflug was identified during an online investigation by the FBI Kansas City Child Exploitation Task Force. A task force officer downloaded numerous files of child pornography from Hassenflug’s computer, including images and videos that depicted babies and toddlers being sexually abused.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Luna. It was investigated by the FBI.

Project Safe Childhood
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."