KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Federal prosecutors handed down another indictment against a Kansas City man accused of drugging children with Ambien-laced ice cream and soda and producing child pornography with them while they were unconscious.
James Phillip “Phil” Edwards , 60, was charged in a 21-count indictment Thursday that replaces a previous indictment filed in October 2009.
According to the new charges, Edwards used 13 child victims to produce child pornography and drugged five of them with the prescription sleep medicine Ambien, which was hidden inside ice cream or soda.
According to a motion filed in October seeking to have him detained pending trial, Phillips admitted to drugging the children in order to render them unconscious.
After the victims were asleep, the motion says, Edwards sexually abused them and used a video camera to record the abuse.
That motion also alleges Edwards believes he did not do anything wrong, stating his view is that “society places arbitrary lines (as in age restrictions) around sexual conduct, with which he doesn’t agree.”
Edwards also faces charges not related to the 13 identified victims, including one count each of advertising child pornography over the Internet, attempting to distribute child pornography over the Internet and possessing child pornography.
