Taney County firefighter of the year charged with receiving, distributing child pornography

 

Child pornography charges were filed today against the Western Taney County Fire Protection District's 2022 Firefighter of the Year.

The criminal complaint, which was filed in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, alleges Cameron Allen Ryan, 35, received and distributed child pornography between November 10 and today and that some of the pornography may have been created at his home.

An FBI search warrant execution found child pornography on Ryan's phone, the complaint said.

Ryan came to the attention of the FBI November 10 through a tip on a man named Jack Dodd using an e-mail address who was considered to be a "possible child abuser," according to the complaint.

An undercover FBI agent made contact with Ryan November 28, the complaint said, and during the conversation, Ryan indicated his interest was girls aged 6-12 and that he had two daughters 12 and 9 years old.

The conversation between Ryan and the FBI agent, which is included in the complaint, indicates Ryan was doing more than just sending and receiving child pornography.

The FBI agent asked if Ryan's wife knew about what he was doing.

"Noooo," he replied.

Later in the conversation, Ryan sent the FBI agent a video, according to the complaint, and indicated it was made at home.

The FBI was able to obtain Suddenlink records December 12 that showed the owner of the e-mail address as Ryan and his address in Hollister.

On December 12, 2023, the FBI conducted open-source social media research and identified Facebook accounts for Allen and {his wife} Photographs on their accounts indicated they had two female minor children. 

Further, RYAN's Facebook page indicated that he was a firefighter with the Western Taney County Fire Department and was awarded Firefighter of the Year in 2022. 

On December 20, 2023, the FBI, the SMCCTF (Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force), and other law enforcement executed a federal search warrant (23-SW-2181-DPR) on RYAN's residence. {His wife} was present at the residence. This affiant spoke to {her) and she stated that she met RYAN in 2014. According to {her}, in 2018, she was using RYAN's cellular phone and saw an email on RYAN's email address. 

At that time, his email was wtcf504@gmail.com. {She} saw that the email contained images of nude children. {She} said she asked RYAN about the email, and RYAN claimed his account was hacked. 

{She} also reported that, on July 3, 2021, she and RYAN were cleaning out their car, and found an old phone belonging to RYAN. {She} said she found a video of young children having sex on RYAN's old phone. She asked RYAN about the video, and RYAN claimed that an unnamed coworker put the video on his phone. He destroyed the phone shortly thereafter. 

RYAN was contacted by FBI Special Agent (SA) Ashley Davis. RYAN granted consent for law enforcement to search his vehicle and his phones. One of the phones were located in RYAN's vehicle in a backpack. When SA Davis examined the phone found in the backpack, she found that the phone was logged into the jdodd3190@gmail.com account and found additional files of child pornography.