Springfield Felon Pleads Guilty to Possessing Child Pornography on His Cell Phone

SPRINGFIELD, MO—Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Springfield, Missouri man who was recently released after serving a prison term for possessing child pornography pleaded guilty in federal court today to downloading additional child pornography onto his cell phone.

Lattrell Anthony Morris, 29, of Springfield, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush to the charge contained in a Febuary 27, 2011 federal indictment. Morris was sentenced in 2007 to serve 70 months in federal prison for possessing child pornography, followed by a lifetime term of supervised release. Morris had been on supervised release for only a few months when he engaged in this criminal conduct.

Morris received a cell phone in September 2012, approximately four months after being released from federal prison. Despite Morris’ supervised release restrictions against Internet services, Morris paid $50 a month for unlimited Internet access through his cell phone.

Morris admitted that he used his cell phone daily to conduct Internet searches for child pornography. Law enforcement officers examined Morris’ cell phone and found more than 15 images of child pornography.

Under the terms of today’s plea agreement, the government and Morris will jointly recommend to the court a sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole. 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 Abram McGull, II. It was investigated by the FBI, the Springfield, Missouri Police Department and the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services Office.

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.”