A Plato man who initially confessed to producing child pornography while applying for employment with the Missouri State Highway Patrol was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in federal prison without parole.
Cedric Lovejoy, 29, was also ordered to spend the rest of his life on supervised release following incarceration. Lovejoy pleaded guilty on Dec. 2, 2014.
Lovejoy participated in a pre-employment polygraph interview and examination conducted by the patrol in November 2012. During the interview, Lovejoy confessed that he had taken video footage of himself receiving oral sex from the then-14-year-old victim. State troopers executed a search warrant at Lovejoy’s residence and seized his computers, which contained the child pornography video Lovejoy had taken with his cell phone.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by the patrol.