Jefferson City Man Indicted for Child Pornography Offenses

JEFFERSON CITY, MO—Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Jefferson City, Missouri man was indicted by a federal grand jury today on charges related to receiving and attempting to distribute child pornography over the Internet.

Dustin Clay Trail, 32, of Jefferson City, was charged in a three-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Jefferson City.

Today’s indictment alleges that Trail received child pornography over the Internet on September 3, 2013. The indictment also charges Trail with attempting to distribute child pornography over the Internet on September 4, 2013, and with possessing child pornography from May 2013 to October 31, 2013.

The indictment contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require Trail to forfeit to the government any property used to commit the alleged offenses, including a desktop computer, three hard drives, and CDs.

Dickinson cautioned that 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 Jim Lynn. It was investigated by the FBI, the Boone County Cyber Crimes Task Force, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

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.”