Carthage man arrested after child pornography discovered on work computer, company-issued cell phones

A Carthage man is in the Greene County Jail after being arrested this morning on a federal child pornography charge.

The initial appearance for Shane Tyler Barton, 55, was held today and an arraignment and detention hearing have been scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Friday in U. S. District Court in Springfield.

According to the probable cause affidavit, child pornography was discovered on Barton's work computer and his company-issued cell phones from H. E. Williams.

His alleged activities came to the attention of the company's director of information technology who discovered a virus on Barton's computer and an unauthorized anti-virus program.

While examining the computer, the director initially discovered adult pornography, a violation of company rules in files named "tumblr," then noted numbered files labeled with numbers and letters that included a depiction of a girl who appeared to be 12 or 13 years old being sexually assaulted.

Barton made an effort to delete the files, according to the affidavit.

"Fearing Barton was possibly tampering with evidence (the director) locked Barton out of his network and his company-issued computer." The deleted files were retrieved from the recycle bin.

Barton was told he was being investigated and was being placed on leave and was asked to turn over his company phone. An examination of the phone revealed child pornography, including a girl who appeared to be about three years old being raped by an adult male.

After the FBI was contacted, search warrants were obtained for the phone, plus an older one and a company computer Barton was using at home.

The examination of the contents of the devices indicated Barton had downloaded child pornography at least from August 17, 2017 through January 5, 2022.