Judge accepts Liberal man's guilty plea on child porn charges

Federal Judge David P. Rush today accepted the guilty plea of Timothy Curless, 53, Liberal, on charges of receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Curless originally pleaded guilty on Sept. 18, 2013, but later withdrew his guilty plea when he learned that his prior Kansas conviction for two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child would increase his mandatory minimum prison sentence from five years to 15 years. Curless pleaded guilty to the same offense today.

According to court documents, a law enforcement officer was conducting an undercover investigation into the distribution of child pornography by suspect(s) using file-sharing software. On two separate occasions the officer downloaded images of child pornography from Curless’s computer. Among those images were children who have not reached puberty and a child as young as three years of age. When officers executed a search warrant they learned that Curless had been using his neighbor’s wi-fi network in order to access the Internet.

Sentencing will take place at a later date.