ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Wednesday sentenced a man who recorded pictures and videos of his sexual abuse of a one-year-old to 40 years in prison.

"This is one of the worst cases of sexual abuse that I've seen in 25 years as a judge," Judge Ross told William Burns before sentencing him. Judge Ross also ordered Burns to pay $146,500 to the victims who appear in the child sexual abuse material he possessed.

Burns, 41, and Rachel Burns, 35, pleaded guilty in May to one count of conspiracy to produce child pornography and two counts of production of child pornography. William Burns also pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and an additional count of production of child pornography.

The Burns were arrested on July 30, 2023, by the University City Police Department. The couple thought they were meeting an 11-year-old girl, and planned to bring her home and sexually abuse her. Rachel Burns told investigators that her husband had child sexual abuse material on multiple electronic devices, leading to a court-approved search by the Franklin County Sheriff's Office. Deputies then found electronic devices, as well as whips, numerous sexual devices and a 3-foot-7-inch-tall silicone sex doll made to resemble a prepubescent female in their home, their plea agreements say.

Investigators also found a 2022 video showing the couple sexually abusing a one-year-old. They found other videos and images from 2022 and 2023 showing that victim, the couple admitted in their plea agreements. Investigators also found 13,954 image and video files depicting child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on a computer and digital storage devices. William Burns used a WhatsApp social media account to exchange CSAM with other WhatsApp users.

In an earlier hearing on September 3, a woman who met William Burns when she was 18 and he was 33 said he initially presented himself as a "man of God" before physically and sexually abusing her. He showed her a video of the rape of an infant. She said he told her that he wanted to have children with her and then have sex with their children.

Burns "has just left a trail of wreckage behind him in his life," Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hayes said in court Wednesday. "He was dedicated to the sexual abuse of children."

Rachel Burns, 35, is scheduled to be sentenced on October 15. The U.S. Attorney's office has agreed to recommend no more than 35 years in prison for her.

The University City Police Department, the Franklin County Sheriff's Office and the St. Louis County Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hayes is prosecuting 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 https://www.justice.gov/psc.