KC Man Sentenced to 14 Years for Child Porn

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Kansas City, Mo., man whose computer had been seized in a separate and unrelated state investigation, has been sentenced in federal court for obtaining another computer and attempting to distribute child pornography over the Internet.

Justin K. Eaton, 33, of Kansas City-North, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark on Thursday, May 26, 2016, to 14 years in federal prison without parole.

On Nov. 23, 2015, Eaton pleaded guilty to attempting to distribute child pornography over the Internet. According to court documents, the file to which Eaton pleaded guilty to distributing was particularly violent in that it depicted an adult male attempting to engage in illicit sex with a toddler, who can be heard crying.

On Oct. 8, 2012, an FBI agent identified Eaton’s computer as sharing images of child pornography over a peer-to-peer file-sharing network. The agent downloaded three video files and five images of child pornography from Eaton’s computer.

            Approximately six months earlier, in February 2012, law enforcement officers in Clay County, Mo., had seized Eaton’s computer in an unrelated state child pornography case. Eaton bought a new computer about a week later and continued to download and share child pornography, which resulted in the federal investigation and grand jury indictment.

Eaton was arrested on the state charges on Oct. 12, 2012, and was released on bond. On Oct. 26, 2012, the FBI executed a search warrant at Eaton’s residence and seized electronic media that contained more than 150 images of child pornography. Eaton must forfeit to the government a laptop computer, a computer hard drive and a micro SD card, all of which were used to commit the offense.

Eaton pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing child pornography in the Clay County case on Aug. 17, 2013, and was sentenced to eight years. Eaton spent 120 days in the Sexual Offender Assessment Unit in the Missouri Department of Corrections and was released to probation.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine A. Connelly. It was investigated by the FBI.

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."