KANSAS CITY – A Kansas City man was indicted by a federal grand jury this week for producing child pornography, according to the United State's Attorney.
Leonardo Leon, 25, was charged in a two-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City. The indictment replaces a federal criminal complaint that was filed against Leon on Oct. 14.
The federal indictment alleges that Leon used a minor victim to produce child pornography from Aug. 1 to Sept. 2, 2024. The indictment also charges Leon with distributing child pornography.
According to an affidavit filed in support of the original criminal complaint, law enforcement officers were dispatched to Children’s Mercy Hospital shortly after midnight on Sept. 3, 2024, when a 15-year-old victim suffered a fatal drug overdose. In the course of their investigation, officers learned that Leon had been communicating on Instagram with the child victim’s best friend. This witness told officers that Leon was having sex with the child victim and, about a week after the child victim’s death, had sent her a video of them having sex.
Investigators searched Leon’s Instagram account, the affidavit says, and found three video clips he had sent to the witness of himself engaging in sex with the child victim.