SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Climax Springs, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to producing child pornography and enticing a minor for illicit sex.

Adam Hammond, 22, of Climax Springs, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard E. Dorr to the charges contained in a Sept. 28, 2011, superseding indictment.

By pleading guilty today, Hammond admitted that he used a minor to produce child pornography between Oct. 31 and Dec. 29, 2010. Hammond also admitted that he used the Internet and a cell phone to attempt to entice a minor to engage in illicit sex during the same time period.

Under federal statutes, Hammond is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole. 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 Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, the Polk County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Camden County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department 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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