Carthage man who sought children through Facebook pleads guilty to child porn charge

(From the U. S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri)

Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Jasper County, Mo., man who contacted a child victim on Facebook pleaded guilty in federal court today to producing child pornography.

Ian Holman, 33, of Jasper County, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to the charge contained in an Oct. 1, 2013, federal indictment.

According to court documents, law enforcement authorities received reports regarding two minors that Holman contacted via Facebook. One of the minors, a 13-year-old in Carthage, Mo., told officers that Holman (using the screen name “Lucky Holman”) offered to pay her $75,000 to $100,000. He also asked her to send him sexually explicit pictures of herself, which she did.

On Sept. 11, 2013, after receiving the report from Jane Doe, a sheriff’s deputy was dispatched to Holman’s residence. Holman attempted to elude the deputy by running out the back of the house and into the woods. The deputy, along with two other officers and a K9 unit, pursued Holman into the woods. The officers searched for Holman for approximately 45 minutes. The deputy was able to contact Holman by phone and persuade him to turn himself in.

According to court documents, Holman told officers that he friended numerous 12-to-14-year-old girls in the Carthage and Webb City area and used Facebook instant messaging to contact the girls.

Under federal statutes, Holman is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of 30 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, the Jasper County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department and Homeland Security Investigations.