SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Joplin, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for receiving more than 100 movies containing child pornography over the Internet.

Stephen Merle Haldaman, 58, of Joplin, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard E. Dorr to 12 years and seven months in federal prison without parole.

On Feb. 3, 2011, Haldaman pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography over the Internet between Aug. 7, 2008, and April 20, 2010.

Officers with the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force identified Haldaman’s computer that was sharing child pornography over the Internet on numerous occasions using peer-to-peer file-sharing software. A forensic examination of the computer identified 121 movies of child pornography, including movies that depicted children under the age of 12 and movies that depicted the rape and torture of children.

This case was prosecuted by Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael S. Oliver. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations.

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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