ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — A previously convicted St. Louis County sex offender was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to being caught with child pornography by his probation officers.
Christopher D. Gruebbel, then 37, pleaded guilty in February to one count of possession of child pornography and was sentenced Monday by a U.S. District Judge.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, Gruebbel was on supervised release at the time he was found with the images. He was previously sentenced in 2013 to four years and three months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of possessing child pornography. His sentencing terms included that he would be on supervised release for life after his release.
Prosecutors said that several times in 2021, Gruebbel's probation officer couldn't find him at his approved residence. The officer later learned he had been evicted and was living with his mother without permission.
Probation officers then found that Gruebbel had multiple electronic devices without permission, including a laptop, cell phone, iPad and iPod. Fifty images and 14 videos containing child pornography were on the iPad, and 251 images and 117 videos on Greubbel's devices contained exploitative or suspected child pornography.
Investigators analyzed the devices and found Gruebbel was using fake social media accounts and posing as a young girl named "Hannah" to bait people into sending pictures and videos of themselves, prosecutors said. He also took part in chat rooms devoted to baiting people for sexual images.
The attorney's office said Gruebbel will again be on supervised release for life following release from his new prison term.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative to combat child exploitation and abuse.
