September 28, 2015

Billings Man Sentenced for Child Pornography

SPRINGFIELD, MO—Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Billings, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet.

James Hayden McClelland, 22, of Billings, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes to five years in federal prison without parole.

On May 19, 2014, McClelland pleaded guilty to receiving and distributing child pornography. Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at McClelland’s residence on Aug. 16, 2012, and discovered videos and images of child pornography. McClelland admitted that he used peer-to-peer file-sharing software to download child pornography over the Internet.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by the Springfield, Mo., Police Department, the FBI and the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes 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.”