Woman who used her own infant niece to make child porn sentenced to 40 years

A San Bernardino woman was sentenced Monday to four decades in prison for obtaining custody of her own infant niece in order to produce and share child pornography of the baby, according to federal prosecutors in Los Angeles.

Stefani Kasey Marie Stevens, 31, was found guilty in November 2022 of six counts of production of child pornography, one count of distribution of the material, and one count of obtaining custody of a minor with intent to produce child pornography.

Prosecutors in the Central District of California asked a federal judge to sentence Stevens to life in prison, saying that was the only way to ensure that the predator never again abused any children.

But the judge in the case, Virginia Phillips, sentenced Stevens to 40 years plus lifetime supervised release when she gets out.

Stevens began babysitting her 5-month-old niece in 2019 after the child’s mother, Stevens’ sister-in-law, got a job.

But within hours of taking in the infant, Stevens created sexually explicit material of her and sent it to a man on the messaging application Kik, prosecutors proved at trial.

In addition, Stevens also took care of a 7-year-old child whose father was working and she created child pornography of that minor as well. That child was in Stevens’ custody in October and November 2018, according to prosecutors.

She stored the images and videos of the minors in an online account where she also kept hundreds of other child pornography videos and photographs, according to prosecutors.

“Defendant’s conduct is abhorrent. Defendant acted out her sexual fantasies on not one, but two children, including an infant,” federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum last month, in which they called Stevens’ crimes “evil.”