Detention motion: Joplin man searched for child porn while he was high on meth

A Joplin man searched for child pornography while he was high on meth, according to a detention motion filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

The allegation, which Robert M. Holley, 44, told investigators after they executed a search warrant at his home May 10 was among the reasons Judge David P. Rush took the motion under advisement and will have Holley remain in the Greene County Jail awaiting the decision.

Holley's alleged crimes were detailed in the motion:

On March 3, 2020, members of the Southwest Missouri Cybercrimes Task Force began an investigation predicated upon the receipt of ten Cybertipline Reports (CTR) from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 

Each of the CTRs involved the discovery of approximately 417 images discovered by Google on their servers within a Google Drive account. ROBERT HOLLEY was identified as a suspect during the course of the investigation. 

On May 10, 2021, a search warrant issued under color of the laws of the State of Missouri was executed upon the defendant’s residence. 

The defendant was questioned on scene and confessed that he had searched for imagery depicting child pornography at times when he was abusing methamphetamine. A preliminary forensic examination of a computer belonging to the defendant revealed multiple video files containing depictions of child pornography.

In the grand jury indictment against Holley, which was unsealed last week, the charging information said the child pornography Holley allegedly possessed "depicted minors, as young as infants, engaged in sexually explicit conduct." 

The images included children being sexually abused while they were being held in bondage and the use of foreign objects on underage girls.

Holley initially denied knowing anything about the child pornography, the affidavit says, but "after being confronted with evidence located during the search, Holley confessed that he had searched for and had been viewing child pornography for over an year."