Eldon Man Indicted for Child Sexual Exploitation

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Timothy A. Garrison, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that an Eldon, Mo., man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for enticing a minor to engage in illicit sexual activity over a two-year period and for attempting to produce child pornography.

James Anthony Guthrie, III, 36, of Eldon, was charged in a two-count indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Jefferson City, Mo., on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. That indictment was unsealed and made public today upon Guthrie’s arrest and initial court appearance.

The federal indictment charges Guthrie with using the Internet and a cell phone to entice a child victim in North Carolina, between the ages of 12 and 16, to engage in illicit sexual activity from Dec. 1, 2015, to Dec. 18, 2017. Guthrie is also charged with attempting to produce child pornography on Dec. 18, 2017.

Garrison 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 Ashley S. Turner. It was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Lebanon, Mo., Police Department and the Lake Area ICAC Task Force.

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."