Red Bud man gets 25 years for porn conviction

A Red Bud man was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for producing child pornography, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois Donald S. Boyce announced.

Michael B. Stephens, Jr., 43, of Red Bud, was sentenced after pleading guilty on March 22 to a two-count indictment charging him with sexually exploiting a minor on two occasions in November 2016.

The charges arose from an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Waterloo Police Department. Evidence at the plea and sentencing hearings established that on numerous occasions in 2016, Stephens videotaped himself engaging in sexual intercourse with a minor female at his residence in Waterloo. The evidence also established that Stephens was both physically and verbally abusive to the minor female during this time.

In addition to the 25 year sentence, United States District Judge Michael J. Reagan imposed a ten-year term of supervised release and ordered Stephens to pay a $500 fine. As a result of his conviction, Stephens will also have to register as a sex offender after he is released from prison.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Springfield Child Exploitation Task Force and the Waterloo Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel T. Kapsak with assistance fromMonroe County State's Attorney Christopher Hitzemann.