Former Teacher Sentenced for Child Pornography

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A former Lebanon, Mo., teacher was sentenced in federal court today for receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Brandon Hileman, 26, of Lebanon, Mo., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to eight years in federal prison without parole.

Hileman, formerly a math teacher at Joel E. Barber Junior High School in Lebanon, pleaded guilty on Nov. 14, 2018. Hileman admitted that he received child pornography over the Internet between Jan. 1 and Sept. 29, 2017.

The investigation began when a Lebanon police detective was notified that Hileman had uploaded two videos of child pornography to his Google Drive account. Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Hileman’s residence on Sept. 29, 2017, and seized computers, an iPad, cell phones and digital storage devices. Investigators examined the devices and found 886 images and 46 videos depicting child pornography, along with nearly 500 depictions of children engaged in the act of urination or defecation. Almost 600 images of a juvenile with whom Hileman was acquainted were also located, at least two of which were inappropriate (although not pornographic).

Hileman told investigators he began viewing child pornography as a teenager.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Lebanon, Mo., Police Department.

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."