Springfield Man Sentenced to Twelve and a Half Years in Prison for Receiving Child Pornography and Producing Obscene Images of Children

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - A Springfield, Mo., man, who was convicted following a jury trial, of receiving several images of child pornography and using Artificial Intelligence to produce multiple obscene images of children, was sentenced today to 151 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Megan Blair Benton. Judge Benton further ordered that he serve 25 years of supervised release following his release from federal prison.

On June 2, 2026, Jeremy Koppenhaver, 46, was found guilty of one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of production of obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children, following a two-day jury trial in the United States District Court in Springfield, Mo.

The evidence at trial showed that, on June 22, 2024, the Springfield Police Department responded to a coffee shop in downtown Springfield, after another customer reported that Koppenhaver, who was also at the coffee shop using their internet, was attempting to use AI to produce child pornography. The responding officers seized Koppenhaver's laptop. Investigators conducted a forensic examination of the laptop and found approximately 19 images of child pornography and approximately 61 obscene images of children created using AI. All images of child pornography depicted real children.

The computer data from the obscene images showed Koppenhaver was using an AI image generation website to depict female celebrities as minors who were being subjected to sexual abuse. The data also revealed Koppenhaver was refining his prompts to evade the community guidelines of the AI website and was attempting to make the images more realistic. Investigators also located images in which Koppenhaver used photo editing software to edit nude images of Koppenhaver into photographs that depicted nude girls. Data on the computer also demonstrated that Koppenhaver had multiple web searches looking for child pornography.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephanie L. Wan and Randall Eggert. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Springfield, 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."