project safe childhood
jasper man pleads guilty to child porn
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Jasper, Mo., man has pleaded guilty in federal court to receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet.
Christopher Clutter, 24, of Jasper, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge James C. England on Monday, Nov. 29, 2010, to the charges contained in an Aug. 6, 2008, federal indictment.
During the course of a burglary investigation conducted by the Jasper, Mo., Police Department, a number of computers, removable hard drives and CDs were recovered from Clutter’s residence. What appeared to be child pornography was discovered on one of the CDs, and three additional computers were seized from Clutter’s residence. Investigators discovered multiple images of child pornography on those computers.
Under federal statutes, Clutter is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of 30 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $500,000. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by the Jasper County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department and the Missouri Attorney General’s Office High Technology and Computer Crime Unit.
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.
