ST. LOUIS – United States District Court Judge Stephen R. Clark sentenced Andrew Hotchkiss to 27.5 years in federal prison to be followed by a lifetime on supervised release for the production of child pornography. Hotchkiss previously pleaded guilty in November 2021.
Between the dates of March 1, 2019, and May 13, 2019, in St. Francois County, Missouri, Hotchkiss sexually abused the victim, who was six years of age at the time. Hotchkiss used his cellular telephone to video record and produce images of his sexual abuse of the victim.
Hotchkiss distributed the images and videos of his sexual abuse of the minor via the internet to others including a resident of the State of Oregon. On May 13, 2019, law enforcement officers with the Oregon State Police located the above-reference images and videos on a cellular telephone belonging to the Oregon resident who was in police custody after attempting to meet an eleven-year-old for sexual contact. It was the Oregon State Police investigation and their recovery of the images and videos produced by Hotchkiss that initiated the investigation that gave rise to the charges against Hotchkiss in this case.
This case was a joint effort between the St. Francois County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the St. Francois County Sheriff’s Office, and the Oregon State Police.