Joplin man who searched for child pornography when he was high on meth pleads guilty

A presentence hearing has been ordered for Robert M. Holley, 44, who pleaded guilty to a child pornography charge this morning in U. S. District Court in Springfield.

No sentencing date has been scheduled.

Holley's crimes were described in a detention motion filed May 17.

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."