LOS ANGELES – A South Bay man who — along with three accomplices — victimized a 15-year-old girl by creating sexually explicit videos of her has been sentenced to 220 months in federal prison, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
Leprinceton Dewon Burks, 38, of Carson, was sentenced on Monday by U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter Jr., who also placed Burks on lifetime supervised release once Burks completes his prison sentence, according to the DOJ.
In June 2021, at the conclusion of a four-day trial in Los Angeles federal court, a jury found Burks guilty of two counts of conspiracy to produce child pornography, two counts of production of child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography.
From July to August 2011, Burks and three accomplices filmed the victim participating in various sex acts. Burks was visible in the videos that law enforcement recovered from his laptop computer as well as the laptop and cell phone of a co-conspirator.
“The videos show that (Burks) was an enthusiastic participant in this exploitation and when questioned by law enforcement, he said that he thought it was `funny,”‘ prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
Burks is the final defendant to be sentenced in the case. In August 2015, a federal grand jury charged Burks and three co-defendants in an indictment for sexually exploiting the victim. Each of Burks’ co-defendants pleaded guilty in 2016 to criminal charges and has been sentenced to federal prison terms ranging from four years to over 13 years.
