Richmond Man Sentenced to 15 Years for Child Pornography

A Richmond man has been sentenced in federal court for distributing child pornography.

Richmond resident 32-year-old Zachary Ryan Taylor has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison without parole and was ordered to pay $25,215 in restitution to the child victims depicted in the images of child pornography.

Taylor was also ordered to spend 20 years of supervised release following incarceration. He will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison and will be subject to federal and state sex offender registration requirements.

On March 8, 2023, Taylor pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child pornography, admitting he participated in a chatroom through the online application Kik. Taylor communicated with an online covert employee with the FBI, claiming to be sexually active with a child victim.

He sent that covert FBI employee an image of child pornography he claimed was the child victim, although investigators do not believe the photo actually was a depiction of the child victim. Taylor also claimed he had been with a second child victim.

On December 21, 2021, the FBI and other law enforcement personnel executed a search warrant at Taylor’s residence. Investigators seized several cell phones and other electronic devices, which contained hundreds of videos and images of child pornography.

The Western Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force also investigated two cybertips, from Musical.ly and Kik, which reported that Taylor had uploaded images and videos of child pornography to those platforms.