St. Louis Man Sentenced to 30 Years for Recording His Sexual Abuse of 5-Year-Old

ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge Cristian M. Stevens on Thursday sentenced a man who recorded his sexual abuse of a five-year-old to 30 years in prison.

When Marshall Williams, 41, pleaded guilty in November to one count of production of child pornography, he admitted sexually abusing the victim and recording the abuse with his cell phone in March of 2024. After the victim's aunt found the videos, she alerted the victim's mother and they confronted Williams, who fled to Columbia, Missouri, where he was arrested.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson prosecuted 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.