Anthony A. Moore, 49, of Barnhart has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after admitting to engaging in sexual acts and requesting nude photos from a girl who was younger than 14, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office reported.
U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Divine sentenced Moore on June 24. In March, Moore pleaded guilty to receipt of child pornography in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, according to court documents.
The U.S. District Attorney’s Office dropped a charge of coercion and enticement of a minor against Moore as part of the plea agreement.
According to the plea agreement, Moore engaged in sexual contact with the girl from October to December 2023. The girl’s father reported the inappropriate relationship to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 24, 2023, after seeing conversations between his daughter and Moore on the girl’s cell phone.
Moore was arrested on July 1, 2024, and investigators found more than 500 inappropriate pictures of the girl on his cell phone. Moore also discussed giving the girl marijuana, the plea said.
Assistant U.S. attorney Jillian Anderson prosecuted the case.
The Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office also has charged Moore with two counts of statutory sodomy, one count of first-degree statutory rape and enticement of a child, all felonies. He also was charged with misdemeanor resisting or interfering with an arrest, court records said.
Moore is scheduled to appear for a case review on Aug. 18 in Jefferson County Court, according to court documents. Jefferson County assistant prosecuting attorney Michele Whitehead is prosecuting the case.
According to a probable-cause statement filed by the Sheriff’s Office, Moore attempted to flee a traffic stop, but he stopped driving away from deputies after going about a quarter mile. He was then arrested without incident.
The federal 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, go to justice.gov/psc.