Carl Junction Man Pleads Guilty to Child Porn

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Carl Junction, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Steven Ray Cottle, Jr., 35, of Carl Junction, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush to receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Law enforcement agents were conducting an undercover investigation in December 2013 and identified Cottle’s computer as receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet through a peer-to-peer file-sharing program. When agents executed a search warrant at his residence on Feb. 13, 2014, Cottle attempted to hide his laptop computer and two thumb drives by placing them above the ceiling tiles in his bedroom before he came downstairs to talk to law enforcement officers. Investigators discovered images and videos of child pornography on the laptop and thumb drives.

Under federal statutes, Cottle is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of 20 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000. 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 Patrick Carney. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cybercrimes Task Force and Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Project Safe Childhood

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."