A Missouri man was sentenced in federal court for sexually assaulting a minor child victim to produce child pornography and distribute it to others through the Kik application.
Andrew J. McCardie, 36, of Farley, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes to 40 years in federal prison without parole. McCardie 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, which may apply throughout his life.
On Feb. 23, 2023, McCardie pleaded guilty to two counts of producing child pornography and one count of distributing child pornography.
McCardie communicated with individuals through the Kik application beginning in January 2022, using a screen name to indicate he was willing and able to produce child pornography and distribute to other persons. McCardie produced 19 images and videos of child pornography involving a minor child victim on Feb. 11 and 12, 2022. Most of these were created live, meaning he was recording himself actively sexually abusing the child victim while communicating with other persons over Kik, and sending those images and videos to them during the abuse.
On March 5, 2022, McCardie created another live video of his sexual abuse of the child victim. McCardie didn’t know he was communicating with an undercover law enforcement officer through Kik. McCardie told the undercover officer he had been “doing these requests on Kik for a couple of years now” and discussed how to sexually abuse a child. During this conversation, McCardie sent the undercover officer a screenshot of a chat he was having with the Kik user he produced the video for, in order to prove he had created the video live.
On March 6, 2022, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at McCardie’s residence. The entry team attempted to take control of McCardie near the entrance of the residence but he resisted, initially holding a firearm as officers entered. McCardie was brought out into the yard, where he continued to resist before being handcuffed and placed under arrest. McCardie attempted to hide his iPhone in the bedroom closet, but officers found the phone and seized it in order to conduct a forensic investigation.
McCardie’s Kik account included 218 images and videos of child pornography. McCardie sent 58 separate videos and images of child pornography to other Kik users and received more than 200 images and videos of child pornography from other Kik users between Jan. 2 and March 7, 2022.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth W. Borgnino. It was investigated by the FBI.
