A Joplin man was sentenced in federal court today for receiving and distributing child pornography.
Michael Eden, 36, of Joplin, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 12 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Eden to 10 years of supervised release following incarceration.
On Dec. 4, 2017, Eden pleaded guilty to receiving and distributing child pornography.
According to court documents, the investigation began on June 20, 2016, when a Joplin police officer responded to a call involving the sexual exploitation of a 12-year-old child. The child victim had been receiving text messages from Eden, who indicated he had romantic feelings for the child. The child’s mother was told about the text messages after Eden asked the child victim to send him pictures. A forensic examination of the child’s phone revealed numerous inappropriate text messages sent by Eden to the child.
After Eden was interviewed by investigators, law enforcement officers seized his cell phone as well as a laptop computer, nine hard drives and a USB flash drive from his home. Eden admitted that he received images and videos of child pornography from another person through the Kik application on his phone, and that he had also transmitted child pornography to others via Kik.
Investigators discovered 70 images of child pornography on Eden’s cell phone and several hundred images of child pornography on his computer. The images depicted children as young as toddlers engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by the Joplin, Mo., Police Department and the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force.
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