Battlefield Man Pleads Guilty to Child Porn

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Battlefield, Mo., man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for receiving and distributing child pornography.

Dennis Prince, 61, of Battlefield, was charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield, Mo., on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2015. Prince was arrested and had his initial court appearance today.

The federal indictment alleges that Prince received and distributed child pornography between Oct. 31, 2013 and July 1, 2015.

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 James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by the FBI, the Springfield, Mo., Police Department, the Battlefield, Mo., Police Department, and the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crime Task Force.

Project Safe Childhood

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."