Springfield man sentenced for sexual exploitation of a 14-year-old victim

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Springfield, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court last week for the sexual exploitation of a 14-year-old victim.

Jared Neal Gonzales, 26, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 15 years in federal prison without parole.

The court also sentenced Gonzales to 10 years of supervised release following incarceration.

Gonzales will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison and will be subject to federal and state sex offender registration requirements, which may apply throughout his life.

On Nov. 8, 2022, Gonzales pleaded guilty to one count of using a minor to produce child pornography. Gonzales admitted he was in a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl. Gonzalez also admitted they used a cell phone to record themselves having sexual intercourse. On at least two occasions, at Gonzales’s request, the child victim used her cell phone to send him videos of the couple engaged in sexual intercourse.

Gonzales has also been charged in the Circuit Court of Greene County, Mo., for sexual misconduct involving a child and attempted statutory sodomy in the second degree in relation to this conduct.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie L. Wan. It was investigated by the FBI and the Springfield, Mo., Police Department.

Project Safe Childhood

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”