Joplin man sentenced to 17 years, six months on child pornography charges

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

A Joplin man with a prior sex conviction was sentenced in federal court today for receiving and distributing child pornography over the internet.

Delbert C. Feezell, 58, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips to 17 years and six months in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Feezell to 15 years of supervised release following incarceration, and ordered him to pay $1,000 in restitution to one of his victims.

Feezell, who has prior convictions for sexually assaulting an 8-year-old child and for indecent exposure, pleaded guilty on May 24, 2018.

The investigation began on Nov. 20, 2015, when Feezell uploaded a video of child pornography to YouTube, which was reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Feezell uploaded additional images of child pornography to another website on April 7, 2016, after which a search warrant was executed at his residence. Investigators seized a laptop computer that contained 785 video files and five images of child pornography. The depictions include children as young as toddlers being sexually assaulted by adult males. Feezell engaged in his illegal activities using his unwitting neighbor’s internet service.

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