Belleville Man Caught in Sex Sting Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison

ST. LOUIS - United States District Court Judge Stephen R. Clark on Monday sentenced Kenneth Rogers, 24, of Belleville, Illinois, to 25 years in prison on child sex-related charges.

Rogers was caught in a sex sting in 2020 after traveling from Illinois to Brentwood, Missouri, thinking he would be having sex with a 14-year-old boy. Rogers had contacted the purported boy's older, adult brother on the dating app Grindr on March 31, 2020, not realizing the older brother was actually a sergeant with the St. Louis County Police Department investigating online child sexual exploitation.

Rogers continued the conversation into June using a variety of apps and sent child pornography to the officer before the meeting. After his arrest, investigators found conversations on Kik Messenger in which Rogers sent and received child pornography. They also found 199 images and 88 videos containing child pornography on Rogers' phone.

Rogers pleaded guilty in United States District Court in St. Louis in November to one count of receiving child pornography and one count of travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

Rogers is also facing charges of production and distribution of child pornography in United States District Court in the Southern District of Illinois.

The case was investigated by the St. Louis County Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Jillian Anderson is prosecuting the case.

This 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. 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.