Former Texas preschool teacher gets maximum sentence for producing child pornography

ABILENE, Texas - A former Abilene preschool teacher, 28-year-old Mark Penfield Eichorn, was sentenced on Thursday to 30 years in federal prison for producing child pornography. 

Eichorn admitted that he paid two boys to record videos of themselves performing sexual acts on each other, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office, Northern District of Texas. The boys were 12 and 13 years old.

The backstory:

According to court documents, Eichorn admitted to struggling with desires to sexually assault children since 2019. During this time, he continued to work with children. He also admitted to being involved in child pornography trading groups across various Internet platforms, such as Kik and Telegram.

Eichorn confessed to possessing and trading prepubescent child pornography online. Among the disturbing material was a video involving a child between the ages of 10 and 12-years-old engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

At the time of his arrest, Eichorn was employed as a teacher at an Abilene private school. Eichorn initiated contact with one of the child victims in this case and offered to send him $100 per week to be his "Sugar Daddy." 

Eichorn admitted that he paid both victims hundreds of dollars to produce videos of themselves engaged in sexually explicit conduct. 

Sentencing

Eichorn was indicted in June 2024 and pleaded guilty in October 2024 to production of child pornography.  

He was sentenced to 360 months in prison, the statutory maximum, by U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix. Judge Hendrix also ordered Eichorn to pay $66,087.50 in restitution.

What they're saying:

At sentencing, Judge Hendrix told Eichorn that the maximum sentence is warranted especially for "protection of the public." In imposing the maximum sentence, Judge Hendrix said, "I have to make a lot of difficult decisions. This is not one of them."

"Stopping horrendous acts against children, such as those in this case, is a core mission of this Office," said Acting U.S. Attorney Chad E. Meacham. "We hope that the maximum punishment in this case serves as a message to other child predators, and that the victims and their families find some measure of comfort knowing that this abuser will be off the streets for a very long time."

"This defendant made the depraved decision to exploit children, not only failing to meet any standard of human decency but choosing to victimize them through the production of sexually explicit materials," said Special Agent in Charge Travis Pickard Homeland Security Investigations Dallas. "I’m grateful for the collaborative effort between our law enforcement partners who assisted in this investigation, ensuring Mr. Eichorn will spend the next 30 years behind bars, unable to harm an innocent child again."