Missouri man guilty of lacing ice cream, molesting girls

A Missouri man who lured children to his home by hosting ice cream-eating contests was found guilty on Wednesday of drugging and sexually molesting more than a dozen young girls -- and then posting videos of the assaults on the Internet.

James Phillip Edwards, 61, of Kansas City pleaded no contest in federal court to 12 counts of producing child pornography, one count of attempting to produce child pornography, and five counts of distributing a controlled substance to the victims without their knowledge in order to facilitate a crime of violence.

As a result of the plea, which prosecutors said they accepted to avoid having the victims forced to testify in court, U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple entered a judgment of guilty on all counts.

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Prosecutors alleged that Edwards used ice cream and soft drinks laced with prescription sleep aids to drug 13 victims, all girls aged 6 to 13, in the basement of his southside home between 2001 and 2005.

Edwards then allegedly molested his unconscious victims and used the webcam on his computer to videotape the assaults.

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Edwards "was found guilty, after entering a plea of no contest in federal court today, to drugging and molesting 13 child victims, with some of the sexual abuse videotaped, over a four-year period," a statement from the U.S. Attorney's office said.

In interviews with investigators, several of the victims said they recalled going over to Edwards' house for ice cream- eating contests but did not know they were being drugged, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Edwards faces a potential maximum sentence of life in federal prison without parole, as well as fines and an order of restitution for his victims.