Gladstone Man Indicted for Child Porn

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Gladstone, Mo., man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for producing, distributing and possessing child pornography.

Barry Alan Darlington, 73, of Gladstone, was charged in a five-count indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013. That indictment was unsealed and made public upon Darlington’s arrest and initial court appearance on Friday, Nov. 15, 2013. Darlington remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing on Nov. 20, 2013.

Darlington is charged with three counts of producing child pornography over a three-year period. The federal indictment alleges that Darlington used a minor, identified as “Jane Doe,” to produce child pornography between June 1, 2001, and May 1, 2004.

The indictment also alleges that Darlington distributed child pornography over the Internet in September 2005 and that he was in possession of child pornography on July 18, 2013.

In seeking to have Darlington detained without bail, the government contends that he has indicated a continuing sexual interest in other children and has destroyed evidence.

According to the government’s detention motion, Darlington furthered the exploitation of his child victim by distributing some of the images he produced over the Internet. Investigators also found in Darlington’s possession multiple additional images and movies of the sexual abuse of other children, including babies. Online chat logs indicate that Darlington distributed other, “commercial” (that is, not self-produced) child pornography to others over the Internet.

The detention motion also cites online chats in which Darlington admitted he had been ogling a young neighbor girl and tried to arrange for her to spend the night at his house. Darlington says in those chats that he loves to go to malls and look at “young folks,” and that he “checks out the kids” when he’s at the grocery store.

The government will produce evidence that Darlington destroyed a computer hard drive after being confronted by law enforcement with evidence that he possessed child pornography.

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 Katharine Fincham. It was investigated by the Gladstone, Mo., Police Department and the Western Missouri Cyber Crimes 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."