Columbia Man Indicted for Producing Child Porn

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Columbia, Mo., man who was previously indicted on charges related to child pornography was indicted by a federal grand jury today on an additional charge of producing child pornography.

Justin Gene Hull, 32, of Columbia, was charged in a four-count superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Jefferson City, Mo. Today’s superseding indictment replaces the original indictment returned on April 21, 2016.

Today’s indictment charges Hull with using a minor to produce child pornography on Dec. 9, 2015. It also contains the original three counts of distributing child pornography in December 2015 and receiving and possessing child pornography from December 2014 to December 2015.

Dickinson 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 Lynn. It was investigated by the FBI, the Boone County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department and the St. Charles Cyber Crimes Forensic Laboratory.

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."