Lee's Summit Soccer Coach Indicted on Additional Charges of Producing Child Porn

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Lee’s Summit, Mo., youth soccer coach was indicted by a federal grand jury today on additional charges related to producing child pornography by secretly videotaping members of his soccer team.

Joel D. White, 40, of Lee’s Summit, was charged in a three-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo. Today’s indictment replaces a federal criminal complaint that was filed against White on April 23, 2013. White, who coached a girls under-12 soccer team and a girls under-15 soccer team through the Lee’s Summit Soccer Association, remains in federal custody. The Lee’s Summit Soccer Association has cooperated fully with law enforcement officers during this investigation.

Today’s indictment charges White with three separate counts of attempting to produce child pornography. White allegedly attempted to use three child victims – identified in the indictment as Jane Doe #1, Jane Doe #2 and Jane Doe #3 – to produce child pornography between May 1, 2012 and March 20, 2013. Each of the three counts contained in the indictment carries a mandatory minimum sentence upon conviction of 15 years in federal prison without parole.

Under Department of Justice guidelines, the attempted production of child pornography is ordinarily charged in cases that involve surreptitious recordings. The statutory penalties for producing child pornography are the same as the penalties for attempting to produce child pornography.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the original criminal complaint, law enforcement officers in Commerce City, Colo., discovered videos of nude minors on White’s camera. White was at a soccer stadium in Colorado last month for a World Cup qualifying game when the cameras were seized by law enforcement officers as part of a criminal investigation.

Several videos allegedly depict White positioning a video camera in a bedroom of his residence in such a way that the camera is hidden. Shortly after White leaves the room, the affidavit says, the videos depict several minors, approximately 11 or 12 years old, entering the room and changing their clothes. Minors are fully nude in the videos and do not appear to know they are being videotaped.

White allegedly told police that he videotaped nude minors 10 to 15 times without their consent from May to October 2012. According to the affidavit, at least four child victims have been identified so far in the investigation.

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 Teresa A. Moore. It was investigated by the Lee’s Summit, Mo., Police Department and the Commerce City, Colo., 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."