Evans To Be Sentenced For Sexual Exploitation Of A 15-Year-Old Girl

According to a news release submitted last week by the Office of the US Attorney, Eastern District of Missouri, Rayford Evans, 52, was found guilty of sexual exploitation of a minor by US District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig, during a one-day bench trial.

Evidence determined that Evans used his cell phone to record the young female juvenile while she was bathing and using the bathroom.

The report stated he made the recording by holding the device up to a window above the bathroom door.

The victim reportedly saw the phone and told a friend and a friend’s father, and then told her own father, who contacted authorities.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Doniphan Police Department investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney Julie Hunter.

Evans will appear for sentencing later this year on the charge, which carries a penalty of 15 to 30 years in prison.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of hild sexual exploitation and abuse,launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.

Led by US Attorney’s 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 www.justice.gov/psc.