A Kansas man has been sentenced in federal court to 30 years in prison for his involvement in the production of child sexual abuse materials, as part of a conspiracy that involved a former police chief.

The sentence was given to 33-year-old Taylor Mullen after he had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit sexual exploitation of a child – production of child pornography.   Prosecutors said he was the fourth person to be sentenced in a case involving two conspiracies led by 39-year-old Joel Womochil, a former police chief in Burns, Kansas.   Womochil pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit sexual exploitation of a child – production of child pornography, and in March he was sentenced to 720 months in prison.  Prosecutors said Womochil was found to have 13 child porn videos.  He had served as the police chief in Burns from February, 2022 until his resignation in August, 2023 shortly before his arrest.

Prosecutors said In 2021, Mullen and his girlfriend Jessica Quave, 38, created videos of themselves engaging in sexually explicit behavior with a child under six years old and sent the videos to Womochil. Quave pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sexual exploitation of a child – production of child pornography. She was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Another conspiracy in 2019 took place between Womochil and Denise Renee Sandman, 40, of Indiana. After meeting Womochil online, Sandmann agreed to create images of a child under the age of five engaged in sexually explicit conduct and send the images to Womochil, which he saved to his hard drive.
Sandmann pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit sexual exploitation of a child –production of child pornography and one count of sexual exploitation of a child – production of child pornography. She was sentenced to 720 months in prison.