Home Kansas City Press Releases 2010 Former School Board Member, City Employee Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charge
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Former School Board Member, City Employee Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charge

U.S. Attorney’s Office March 31, 2010
  • Western District of Missouri (816) 426-3122

KANSAS CITY, MO—Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a former member of the Hickman Mills school board and former employee of the Kansas City, Mo., Parks and Recreation Department pleaded guilty in federal court today to possessing child pornography.

David R. Buie, 55, of Kansas City, Mo., waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs this morning to a federal information that charges him with possessing child pornography.

A computer technician employed by the city of Kansas City, Mo., notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation on March 24, 2008, that Buie had apparent child pornography images on his work computer. The city computer technician told the FBI that a suspicious file had been downloaded onto Buie’s computer and the city’s computer section opened an investigation, which included activating a program that would capture a screen shot of Buie’s computer every 60 seconds so that it could be reviewed. The technician found images of what he believed to be adult and child pornography, as well as animated illustrations of child pornography.

Kansas City police detectives later recovered from Buie’s vehicle multiple floppy disks containing hundreds of images of child pornography. Some of the 300 to 600 images captured the sexual abuse of children under the age of 12.

Buie resigned from the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department on March 21, 2008. City officials continue to fully cooperate with all law enforcement agencies involved in the matter. According to city officials, an internal investigation has found this to be an isolated event; no one else came in contact with the offensive materials and Buie did not have contact with children in the course of his employment. City officials will make no further public comments because this is both a personnel matter and the subject of legal proceedings.

Although Buie was a member of the Hickman Mills school board at the time of the offense, he withdrew his candidacy for reelection in the wake of the investigation. Investigators concluded that Buie’s offense did not involve the Hickman Mills school district or the district’s computers.

Under federal statutes, Buie is subject to a sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000 and an order of restitution to the victims of sexual abuse. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katharine Fincham. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department and the city of Kansas City, Mo.

Project Safe Childhood

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

This news release, as well as additional information about the office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, is available online at http://www.justice.gov/usao/mow/index.html.

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