Springfield Man Sentenced for Child Porn

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Springfield, Mo., man has been sentenced in federal court for receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Kalif Hickey, 33, of Springfield, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015, to seven years and three months in federal prison without parole.

On Sept. 10, 2014, Hickey pleaded guilty to receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet between Nov. 17, 2011, and Jan. 1, 2012. According to court documents, Hickey used a peer-to-peer file-sharing program to receive and distribute child pornography. Law enforcement officers seized and searched Hickey’s computer, which contained 98 videos depicting child pornography.

Hickey must forfeit to the government a computer tower, two laptop computers, five computer hard drives, two MP3 players and 639 CD-R writable disks, all of which were used to commit the offense.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Carney. It was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

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."