DENVER — A 32-year-old man from Lochbuie was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for production of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado announced.
In December 2021, Steven Patrick McConnell, 32, was using an online platform to chat with an individual who was an undercover FBI agent, according to the plea agreement.
McConnell told the agent he had access to a 6-year-old who he regularly sexually assaulted. He then sent the agent a photo of the victim, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
According to the plea agreement, McConnell told the agent in a series of chat exchanges that he planned to assault the victim again, possibly as soon as that evening.
The FBI obtained McConnell's IP address and responded to his home with Lochbuie law enforcement and a warrant. Authorities searched his bedroom and found devices that contained child pornography produced by McConnell, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Agents also discovered evidence that McConnell distributed the images to other people online, the plea agreement states.
McConnell admitted that he sexually abused the victim and made pornographic images of them, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
“This heinous predator repeatedly victimized a trusting child because his access to the child was undetected. Law enforcement intervention stopped the egregious crimes, but the child will live with the experience for the rest of his life,” Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek said in a statement. “The FBI Denver Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force is relentless in its work of protecting vulnerable children and holding their abusers accountable.”
McConnell was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison, followed by 25 years of supervised release.
