Arraignment scheduled for former Joplin police officer on child pornography charges

Arraignments are scheduled Tuesday, October 30, at U. S. District Court in Springfield for two Joplin men, including a former Joplin Police Department officer, who face child pornography charges.

The former officer, Gary McKinney, 43, owner of Gary McKinney Plumbing in Joplin, will be arraigned at 10 a.m. with the arraignment for fellow defendant Anthony Helsel, 31, set for 10:30 a.m.

Both men are being held without bond while awaiting trial. A judge sustained Assistant U. S. Attorney Amy Harshad Miller's detention motion, which included the transcript of a chat session in which McKinney described in graphic detail how he would chloroform an underage girl to render her unconscious, "beat the child first thing," hang her from the ceiling and orally sodomize her.


The motion also included information about McKinney's alleged conversations with Helsel, 31, Joplin, who faces child pornography charges and exploiting a child due to an allegation that he had sex with a four-year-old girl.

McKinney expressed an interest in meeting the four-year-old and engaging in a sex act that would involve her feet.