St. Louis County Woman Admits Producing Child Pornography

ST. LOUIS - A woman from St. Louis County, Missouri on Thursday admitted producing child pornography involving a two-year-old.

Raven Ainesis Pointer, 26, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of production of child pornography. Pointer admitted using her phone to produce videos containing child sexual abuse material.

The investigation into Pointer began in August of 2023 in Montgomery, Alabama, where Homeland Security Investigations agents learned that a man who had been distributing child sexual abuse material had also been communicating with a woman from St. Louis who identified herself as "Raven P." He said she sent him videos involving a two-year-old victim, information which was corroborated by his phone.

Investigators identified Pointer and matched details in the videos to her and the location where they had been filmed, Pointer's plea agreement says. In an interview with investigators, she confirmed that she was in the videos and also identified the victim, the plea says.

Pointer is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 23, 2025. The charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years.

Homeland Security Investigations and the St. Louis County Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Chapman 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. Led by U.S. Attorneys' 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.