Friday, October 12, 2018

Joplin man indicted on child pornography charge

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

A Joplin man was charged in federal court today with receiving and distributing child pornography after exchanging pornographic images with a child in the state of Washington.

Kaleb Wilson, 26, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mo.

According to an affidavit filed in support of today’s federal criminal complaint, Instagram submitted a CyberTipline report on May 5, 2017, to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The report indicated that an Instagram user, later identified as Wilson, had uploaded multiple images of child pornography between March 21 and March 26, 2017.



Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Wilson’s residence on April 2, 2018, and seized several electronic items, which are pending forensic examination.

On Aug. 14, 2018, a detective with the Vancouver, Wash., Police Department contacted the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force and requested assistance in a separate investigation of Wilson. The Vancouver investigation was launched when a resident of that jurisdiction reported that her minor child had been exchanging sexually explicit messages and images with an adult male, later identified as Wilson.

Wilson allegedly communicated with the minor victim via the social media application Kik. According to the affidavit, Wilson and the child victim communicated and exchanged pornographic photos with each other from December 2016 through Aug. 8, 2018.

The charge contained in this complaint is simply an accusation, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charge must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force.

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