Lebanese man sentenced to 25 years in prison for global child sex crimes

A Lebanon man was sentenced to 25 years in prison on August 27 for child sexual abuse.

John Anthony Carpenter, 43, of Lebanon, Mo., was sentenced to 25 years in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child. He used platforms such as Roblox, Snapchat, Likee, Discord and Omegle to obtain Child Sex Abuse Materials (CSAM) from minors.

According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice, he also admitted:

• View CSAM
• Send CSAM
• CSAM questions multiple victims

On April 13, 2022, two separate child sexual abuse investigations in Connecticut and New Jersey led officers to his workplace, where two of his cellphones were seized and a warrant was issued to search his home.

Carpenter admitted to sending Robux (the currency used in the online game Roblox) to minors in exchange for CSAM. At his residence, police found 36 prepaid Robux cards in his bedroom. Carpenter told investigators that just a week before the search, he had sent a $10 Robux gift card to a minor in exchange for sexually explicit images.

According to the press release, law enforcement found 956 files containing CSAM and 6,512 files containing “child exploitative or age-inappropriate material” on his electronic devices. These files contained solicited CSAM from victims in Dubai, the Philippines and the United Kingdom.

In addition to his prison sentence, Carpenter must also:

• 25 years of supervised release from prison
• Pay $15,000 to each of his victims in damages
• Register as a sex offender after release from prison
• Be subject to the state’s sex offender registration requirements, which will apply for the remainder of his life