Two sex offenders charged with child porn in joplin round-up
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – David M. Ketchmark, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that two Joplin, Mo., men were charged in federal court today, in separate and unrelated cases, with receiving child pornography over the Internet. They were arrested during a sex offender compliance round-up.
Brandy Andrew Hertl, 30, and David Wayne Morgan, 55, both of Joplin, were charged with receiving child pornography in separate federal criminal complaints that were filed in the U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mo. Both defendants remain in federal custody pending detention hearings on May 4, 2012.
Both men were arrested when law enforcement officers conducted a sex offender compliance round-up in Joplin on Tuesday, May 1, 2012.
US v. Hertl
According to an affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, when officers arrived at Hertl’s address they found him sitting in a parked van outside the residence. Hertl told officers that he was living in the van and using his sister’s wireless Internet connection from the house to download files over the Internet. Hertl was allegedly in the process of downloading child pornography videos when officers approached him. Officers conducted a forensic examination of Hertl’s computer and found two videos of child pornography and six images of nude children, the affidavit says.
Hertl is a registered sex offender, convicted of indecent liberties with a 3-year-old female in 2009.
US v. Morgan
According to an affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, when officers entered Morgan’s residence he began disconnecting network connections and USB storage drives from his laptop computer in the living room and closed the lid on the computer. During a forensic preview of the laptop, multiple images that appeared to depict child pornography were found.
Morgan is a registered sex offender, convicted of statutory sodomy with a 3-year-old female in 1997.
Ketchmark 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 Jim Kelleher. It was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Jasper County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department and the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force.
