Springfield Man Sentenced to Over 12 Years for Child Pornography Offenses

A Springfield, Missouri man, Jeremy Koppenhaver, has been sentenced to 151 months in federal prison for receiving child pornography and producing obscene images of children. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Megan Blair Benton, who also ordered that Koppenhaver serve 25 years of supervised release following his prison term.

Koppenhaver, 46, was found guilty of one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of production of obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children. His conviction followed a two-day jury trial in the United States District Court in Springfield, Missouri.

The case against Koppenhaver began on June 22, 2024, when the Springfield Police Department responded to a report from a customer at a downtown Springfield coffee shop. The customer reported that Koppenhaver was attempting to produce child pornography using artificial intelligence (AI) while using the coffee shop's internet. Officers seized Koppenhaver's laptop, which was later found to contain approximately 19 images of child pornography and 61 obscene images of children created using AI.

Investigators determined that all the child pornography images depicted real children. Koppenhaver used an AI image generation website to create images depicting female celebrities as minors subjected to sexual abuse. He refined his prompts to evade the community guidelines of the AI website, attempting to make the images more realistic. Additionally, Koppenhaver used photo editing software to insert nude images of himself into photographs depicting nude girls.

Further examination of Koppenhaver's computer data revealed multiple web searches for child pornography. The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Springfield, Missouri Police Department.

The prosecution of this case was led by Assistant U. S. Attorneys Stephanie L.

Wan and Randall Eggert. The case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Project Safe Childhood focuses on locating, apprehending, and prosecuting individuals who sexually exploit children and identifying and rescuing victims.