Lebanon Sex Offender Sentenced to 15 Years for Child Porn

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a prior sex offender in Lebanon, Mo., was sentenced in federal court today for receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Christian Cannon, 44, of Lebanon, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to 15 years in federal prison without parole. Cannon, who has six prior state convictions in Washington for possessing child pornography (all from the same criminal case), was sentenced as a prior sex offender.

On July 28, 2016, Cannon pleaded guilty to receiving and distributing child pornography.

On April 18, 2014, a law enforcement officer conducting an investigation into the distribution of child pornography by suspects using peer-to-peer file-sharing software identified Cannon’s computer as sharing images of child pornography over the Internet. Officers executed a search warrant at Cannon’s residence and seized his computer. A forensic examiner located three videos and two images of child pornography on the computer.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Casey Clark and Patrick Carney. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crime Task Force and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

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."