NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

BETH PHILLIPS

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

www.justice.gov/index.html

MAY 6, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PROJECT SAFE CHILDHOOD

PRIOR SEX OFFENDER SENTENCED TO 20 YEARS

FOR RECEIVING, POSSESSING CHILD PORN

            KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Branson, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for possessing and receiving child pornography over the Internet.

            Michael D. McCullough, 42, of Branson, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs this morning to 20 years in federal prison without parole. McCullough, who was convicted of attempted aggravated incest in Shawnee County, Kan., in 1994, was sentenced as a prior sex offender.

            On Oct. 28, 2009, McCullough pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography over the Internet and to possessing child pornography. McCullough admitted that he obtained child pornography from the Internet using both a computer he rented and a computer at a public library.

            According to the plea agreement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation received more than 60 CyberTipline reports related to McCullough’s online activity. Investigators seized a computer at his residence, which contained images of child pornography.

            This case is being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Beth Phillips. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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.

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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

http://www.justice.gov/index.html