A Kansas City, Mo., pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to producing child pornography after recording videos of two minor victims, including a teenager who responded to his online advertisement for modeling and a minor who was secretly filmed in the shower.
Marcus S. Clarke, 43, a citizen of Jamaican residing in Kansas City, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple to one count of producing child pornography and one count of attempting to produce child pornography.
According to court documents, a 15-year-old girl, identified as Jane Doe #1, had been sending and receiving text messages on a borrowed cell phone. The cell phone’s owner notified a Prairie Village, Kan., police detective when she noticed a text conversation about a modeling photo shoot.
MV told law enforcement officers that she responded to a Craigslist advertisement for models for a photo shoot. Clarke picked her up at a park in Prairie Village on Oct. 3, 2014, and drove her to his apartment in the Northland. When they arrived at the apartment, Clarke put a flash drive in his television to display photos of nude females to MV. MV described the images to law enforcement officers as “disturbing” because the women were nude and engaged in sexual activity. Clarke took both nude and non-nude photos and videos of MV using a digital camera and digital recorder.
According to court documents, Clarke had been advertising online for lingerie and nude modeling as far back as September 2012.
An FBI agent used the same cell phone that MV had used to contact Clarke. Several text messages were exchanged in which Clarke made arrangements to meet MV again for another photo shoot. When Clarke arrived at the Prairie Village park to meet MV on Oct. 22, 2014, he was placed under arrest. Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Clarke’s residence and seized computers and computer storage devices that contained sexually explicit videos of MV.
Clarke also admitted today that he secretly recorded video of a second victim, identified as Jane Doe #2, to produce child pornography between Jan. 1, 2007, and Dec. 13, 2010. According to court documents, investigators discovered an SD card in Clarke’s apartment that contained video recordings in which Clarke appeared to secretly film a minor female while she took a shower.
Under federal statutes, Clarke is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison without parole for each count, up to a sentence of 60 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $500,000. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completio