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Press Release

Former Youth Director Indicted on Additional Child Exploitation Charges

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Missouri
 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Blue Springs, Mo., man was indicted by a federal grand jury today on additional charges for taking a minor across state lines for illegal sexual activity. Today’s charges were added to an earlier indictment for viewing and receiving child pornography over the Internet.

Dennis W. Myers, 52, of Blue Springs, was charged in a five-count superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo. Myers formerly served as a youth director at churches in Independence, Mo., and in Arkansas. Today’s superseding indictment replaces an indictment returned on Dec. 12, 2012.

Today’s superseding indictment adds two additional counts of transporting a minor across states lines for illegal sexual activity. The indictment alleges that, on separate occasions between November 1993 and November 1995, Myers transported a child victim (identified as “Jane Doe #1”) across state lines to engage in sexual activity for which he could be charged with a criminal offense under Missouri statutes, that is, statutory sodomy or statutory rape.

The superseding indictment also contains all three counts that were part of the original indictment. The indictment contains the original allegations that Myers accessed the Internet in order to view child pornography between April 1 and Sept. 16, 2011. Myers is also charged with one count of receiving a video of child pornography over the Internet and one count of possessing child pornography.

Dickinson cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katharine Fincham. It was investigated by the Blue Springs, Mo., Police Department.

Project Safe Childhood

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."
Updated January 8, 2015