Joplin man sentenced to six years on child porn charge

During a hearing today in U. S. District Court in Springfield, a federal judge sentenced Anthony Lynn Pate, Joplin, to six years in prison for receiving and distributing child pornography.

Judge Stephen R. Bough's sentence also requires Pate to be on supervised probation for 10 years when he completes his sentence.

Pate pleaded guilty April 4, the same day a federal grand jury indicted him.

Court documents indicated Pate has been in discussions with the U. S. Attorney's office for some time before he entered his guilty plea.

Pate was arrested as a result of an investigation by he Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force.

Details of his crimes were included in a plea agreement filed April 4:

The Task Force traced child pornography distribution to an IP address that belonged to Pate. A March 2018 search warrant turned up child porn on Pate's devices and he admitted to investigators that he began looking at pornography in 2013 "and it just slipped from there."

Pate provided his passwords voluntarily and handed over all devices he thought might contain child pornography.

The forensic examination was completed in November and showed child porn on five devices.