The Pedophile, Seth Allen Barger, 42, from Jefferson County, Missouri, submitted a friend request to the victim in 2023. On July 26, 2023, he attempted to initiate a sexual chat with her using Facebook Messenger. The victim’s mother reached out to the St. Louis County Police Department, and a detective conducted an interview with Seth Allen Barger. Seth Allen Barger stated that his account had been compromised. Subsequent to Seth Allen Barger’s acquiescence to a search of his mobile device, an investigator from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office discovered 35 photographs depicting child sexual assault material.
Seth Allen Barger entered a guilty plea in November in U.S. District Court in St. Louis for one count of receiving child pornography and one count of enticing a juvenile.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark sentenced a registered sex offender to 16 years in prison for possessing child sexual abuse material and for initiating a sexual chat with an 11-year-old girl using Facebook Messenger.
The St. Louis County Police Department, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, and the FBI conducted an investigation into the matter. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dianna Edwards conducted the prosecution of 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.
If you or anyone you know have been affected by the people highlighted in this article, then please report those individuals to the Police on 101 (999 if an emergency) or visit their online resources for further details of the options for reporting a crime. You can also make a report at Crimestoppers should you wish to be completely anonymous. There is help available on our support links page.