Blue Springs Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charge

KANSAS CITY, MO—Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Blue Springs, Mo., pleaded guilty in federal court today to receiving child pornography over the Internet.

Michael Sottilare, 43, of Blue Springs, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to the charge contained in a June 2, 2009, federal indictment.

By pleading guilty today, Sottilare admitted that he received child pornography over the Internet on March 23, 2008.

An undercover FBI agent in Maryland, using file-sharing software, conducted an Internet search on Nov. 19, 2007, using a term commonly associated with child pornography. Sottilare’s computer was sharing image files that included child pornography, and the undercover FBI agent downloaded a sample of six child pornography images, five of which matched identified victims of child pornography.

While executing a search warrant at Sottilare’s residence, law enforcement officers recovered a computer with two hard drives. They also recovered more than 100 CDs and DVDs from a locked safe. A forensic examination of Sottilare’s electronic media uncovered more than 700 images of child pornography and more than 100 videos of child pornography. Many of the images, both photos and videos, were of prepubescents. There were multiple images of bondage and other sadistic images, including a few movies.

Links to several apparent child pornography websites were found in the “favorite places” file of Sottilare’s AOL archives.

Under federal statutes, Sottilare is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of 20 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

his case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katharine Fincham. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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.