Northwest Missouri Man Indicted on Child Pornography, Obscenity Charges After Thousands of Images Found on Computer

KANSAS CITY, MO—Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Newtown, Missouri man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for possessing and receiving child pornography over the Internet and for possessing child obscenity.

Nicholas Alex Dickinson, 31, of Newtown, was charged in a three-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City on Tuesday, June 18, 2013.

The federal indictment alleges that Dickinson received child pornography over the Internet on April 23, 2013. Dickinson is also charged with possessing child pornography and with possessing obscene material—such as cartoons or animation of child pornography that were also obtained over the Internet—on May 2, 2013.

According to court documents, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Dickinson’s residence on May 2, 2013, based on a peer-to-peer file-sharing investigation. Officers seized a laptop computer, an external hard drive, and other computer media during their search. A forensic examination of the computer and computer media determined that Dickinson had saved thousands of images and/or video files of child pornography in addition to thousands of files relating to child obscenity.

Prior to the execution of the search warrant, officers monitored Dickinson’s online activities. According to court documents, Dickinson used the peer-to-peer file sharing program to offer to share child pornography virtually every day in April 2013.

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 Teresa A. Moore. It was investigated by the Kirksville, Missouri, Police Department; the Sullivan County, Missouri Sheriff’s Department; and the FBI.

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.”