JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a former teacher at St. Elizabeth High School in St. Elizabeth, Mo., was sentenced in federal court distributing child pornography.
Stephen Gregory Strobel, 26, of Jefferson City, Mo., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes to 10 years and one month in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Strobel to serve 15 years on supervised release following his incarceration.
On April 18,2016, Strobel pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography.
In April 2014 a Wooster, Ohio woman discovered that her 13-year-old daughter had engaged in a sexually explicit Internet chat with Strobel. On May 12, 2014, investigators contacted Strobel at St. Elizabeth High School. Strobel admitted he had exchanged pornographic photos with the 13-year-old victim and that she had sent him pornographic photos and a video. According to court documents, Strobel then distributed that video to another person.
Strobel also told investigators that he had traded photos of underage girls with various people online. He never asked the ages of the children depicted, but estimated them to be between the ages of 13 and 15. Strobel estimated that he had received 15 photographs of underage children, the youngest being five or six years old. He stated that he had sent approximately 10 photos of underage children to other people and had also shared videos depicting underage children.
According to court documents, Strobel sent photos depicting child pornography to other individuals throughout the United States, including users who were identified as possible children with whom Strobel was communicating, engaging in sexual role playing and exchanging suspected child pornography images.
Investigators identified a video and approximately 500 images of child pornography on Strobel’s iPhone.
