Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Joplin man facing child porn charge lived at day care center, had "creepy" photos of local children

A hotline tip about a man living at an unlicensed day care center on W. 9th Street led to the arrest of a Joplin man on child pornography charges.

Federal court judge David P. Rush, cited efforts made by Kent Hagan, 52, Joplin, to be around children, including the four to six children his girlfriend cared for at her day care center and the woman's three children, and the strong evidence against Hagan, ordered him held without bond.

Joplin Police received the hotline tip from an informant who said the day care center said she had seen "creepy"photos of two or her charges on Hagan's phone and that she had also seen numerous child porn images. After that, she kicked Hagan out.

The informant did not contact the police until she saw Hagan was living at the daycare center again.

When Joplin Police Detective Dustin Moyer and Sgt. Andrew Blair contacted the day care owner, she confirmed the "creepy images" and said she had deleted the photos, which focused on the bottoms of two young girls, both of whom were clothed.

The woman told the policemen she allowed Hagan to return and be around the children because "she was afraid the perception would ruin her business."

Moyer and Blair contacted Hagan at his place of employment and he became nervous, according to the search warrant. They asked if had other computers and he said he did. As they were questioning him about the "creepy" photos, he showed signs of possibly throwing up. He told the officers he would come to the police station after he got off work at 6 p.m. He turned over his cell phone at the officers' request.

At 3:27 p.m., Moyer and Blair went to Hagan's mother's home and found him with one of the devices. He said he had come home early because he was not feeling well.To the officer, it appeared that Hagan may have been trying to destroy evidence. Moyer asked if he could look at the computer and Hagan refused. At that point, all devices were confiscated.

While they were dealing with Hagan, a forensic search was taking place on Hagan's Samsung Galaxy. The search uncovered 809 child pornography images, 69 anime pornography images, with some of the photos featuring children being violated by adults, a female child being violated by a candy cane and a naked child eating corn on the cob, according to the search warrant affidavit.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do we as Americans not have the Constitutional right to innocence until proven guilty, have a speedy trial, face an accuser, and have witnesses to support us?
Today the media will do anything for headlines and therefore have an extremely low approval rating from the public.

Anonymous said...

I'm thinking those pictures would mean there should at least be some precautions.

I think the daycare owner should have some repercussions for not reporting this the first time! Sounds like it should be shut down.

Anonymous said...

She was shut down the same day they questioned her at her house. Too little, too late though. She should face charges too, definitely.

Anonymous said...

To anonymous at 1:20pm yes I believe in innocent until proven guilty but what's being reported is the facts of case and no one who is inoccent looks at child porn. The child is a victim period and whether he is acted on it or not he has the mentality to hurt a child, which needs to be addressed and looked into. A normal adult doesn't look at child porn period!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous at 6:44, spoken just like you were there watching them take the photos, dude, due process is for everyone, not just those you, or anyone else, thinks are right. Including lying, murdering police state thugs, who many times go unpunished, for those deeds, all because the press repeatedly calls them all (both good and bad), "hero's". The Hitler's and the Stalin's of this world didn't just take over in just a second, it took the removal of rights, and time, to put evil in office, and the press was always their willing lackey.

Anonymous said...

They both should be charged. She should not have let him back into her home. Her own children should be removed from her custody. What kind of mother would allow scum like this to come back into her home after she found those photos.