Columbia man sentenced to 20 years in prison for exploiting minors, child porn

Steven O’Neill of Boone County has pled guilty to three counts sexual exploitation of a minor, one count possession of child pornography and one felony count of invasion of privacy.

O’Neill will be serving 20 years in prison.

The Boone County Sheriff’s Department Cyber Crimes Task Force began investigating O’Neill in August of 2016 after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received an anonymous tip O’Neill’s wife caught him videotaping a young girl that was a neighbor.

O’Neill admitted he knowingly created child pornography in 2013 by setting up a video camera and recording the child on different occasions while she was, “in various stages of undress,” the court documents said. O’Neill also admitted to videotaping other partially or fully nude females without their knowledge.