Bolivar Man Sentenced to 30 Years for Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Child Porn

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Bolivar, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for the sexual exploitation of a minor and for receiving and distributing child pornography.

Monte D. Gann, 54, of Boliver, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 30 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Gann to serve 10 years of supervised release following incarceration.

On March 8, 2016, Gann pleaded guilty to the sexual exploitation of a minor and to receiving and distributing child pornography.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received two cybertips from Tumblr in September 2015. Tumblr had discovered 13 images and one video file that contained possible child pornography, which were uploaded from Gann’s computer. Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Gann’s residence on Dec. 16, 2015.

Gann told officers that he had been looking at child pornography for several years, and that he used the Internet to search for and view child pornography. Gann also admitted to using the websites Omegle, Kik and Skype to contact male children to exchange pornographic pictures. Gann engaged in chat sessions and live streaming video sessions via webcams with multiple minors (as young as nine years old) on multiple occasions.

According to court documents, Gann also used the Internet to meet multiple male children for hands on sexual contact during the past year.  He not only engaged in sexual contact with these victims, but also traded sexually explicit images and videos with the child victims. More than 400 images and eight videos of child pornography were located on Gann’s cell phone; the youngest child was five years old.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crime Task Force, the Polk County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Bolivar, Mo., Police Department and the FBI.

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."