KC Man Sentenced for Producing Child Pornography

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Kansas City, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court yesterday for producing and distributing child pornography.

Leonardo Leon, 25, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to 21 years and 10 months in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Leon to 5 years of supervised release following incarceration.

On March 28, 2025, Leon pleaded guilty to one count of producing child pornography and one count of distributing child pornography.

According to court documents, law enforcement officers learned that Leon was having sex with a 15-year-old minor victim. Investigators learned that Leon had recorded himself having sex with the minor victim, and that he had sent a copy of the video to a friend of the minor victim a week after the minor victim died in 2024.

Leon will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison and will be subject to federal and state sex offender registration requirements, which may apply throughout his life.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth W. Borgnino. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department.

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."