NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

MATT J. WHITWORTH

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

APRIL 1, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PROJECT SAFE CHILDHOOD

FORMER LACLEDE COUNTY JAILER INDICTED

FOR CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

            SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Matt J. Whitworth, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a former employee of the Laclede County Sheriff’s Department has been indicted by a federal grand jury for receiving and possessing child pornography.

            Martin Denson, 44, of Lebanon, Mo., was charged in a two-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield on Tuesday, March 31, 2009. Denson was employed as a jailer for the Laclede County Sheriff’s Department at the time of the alleged offense.

            The federal indictment alleges that Denson received child pornography over the Internet on June 24, 2008. Denson is also charged with possessing child pornography on that date.

            Whitworth 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 Randall D. Eggert. It was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Laclede County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department.

Project Safe Childhood

            This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

****************

This news release, as well as additional information about the office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, is available on-line at

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html