VERNON COUNTY, Mo. — A Kansas City woman was sentenced in court today for the sexual exploitation of two children.
According to the Department of Justice, Jessica Ann Young, 34, was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison without parole.
On March 5, 2020, Houston Young, age 37 and husband of Jessica, was an inmate at the Vernon County Jail when he was found in possession of a cell phone that had images of child pornography on it. He was detained pending a civil proceeding to determine whether he should be civilly committed as a sexually violent predator for his prior sex offense convictions.
Law enforcement discovered it was Jessica Young who had sent multiple child pornographic images including those of a seven-year-old victim (identified in court documents as “John Doe 1”) to Houston Young’s cell phone. Text messages were found between the couple discussing sexually abusing the victim.
Jessica Young admitted she had sexually abused two child victims, John Doe 1 and 13-year-old John Doe 2, on multiple occasions. Jessica Young also admitted that she had recorded a video of herself sexually abusing John Doe 2.
The cell phone also held text messages and images of Houston Young and a 16-year-old female victim (identified as “Jane Doe”). Houston shared images of himself and of Jane Doe with Jessica Young. Jane Doe told investigators she met Houston Young on a video game room chat.
Houston Young was sentenced on July 30, 2024, to life in federal prison without parole. He pleaded guilty to one count of the sexual exploitation of a minor on Jan. 30, 2024.
He has two prior felony convictions related to the sexual exploitation of children. He was convicted of child molestation in Wright County, Mo., in 2005 and of possessing child pornography in Jackson County, Mo., in 2016.