Man Sentenced to 245 Years In Prison for Molesting 13 Small Girls

A man got a huge and near record breaking prison sentence for attacking 13 girls in the basement of his home, according to court proceedings. A Kansas City man was sentenced to 245 years in prison for drugging and sèxually abusing 13 children, with some of the sèxual abuse recorded on video over a period of four years. During sentencing Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple told 63-year-old James Phillip "Phil" Edwards that "his conduct is incomprehensible." He was sentenced to federal prison without parole. "We are pleased that an extremely dangerous sèxual predator is guaranteed to spend the rest of his life in prison," David M. Ketchmark, acting U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office, Western Division, said. "The virtual life sentence is the only fair solution for the confessed pedophile who drugged innocent children to sèxually abuse them, and then recorded videos of his abuse. This serial abuser will not cause harm to another child for the rest of his life." Edwards pleaded no contest to 21 charges related to the production and distribution of child pornography. He was convicted of 12 counts of producing videos of sèxual abuse of 12 separate children, attempted production with respect to a 13th child and possession of a large collection of child pornography downloaded from the Internet. The court also found Edwards guilty of five counts of administering a drug to some of the victims to facilitate crimes. Edwards created several videos of his abuse on 13 victims, whose ages at the time of their molestations ranged from 6 years to 13 years. Evidence indicates a girl may have been the victim when she was just 4 years old. Prosecutors said all sèxual abuse occurred at his home south of Kansas City, and all but one of the videos were recorded in his basement.