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Press Release

Cooper County Sex Offender Indicted for Child Pornography

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Missouri

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A Prairie Home, Mo., sex offender has been indicted by a federal grand jury on multiple charges related to producing child pornography.

Bradley Leigh Knecht, 28, was charged in a four-indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Jefferson City on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

Knecht, who was arrested today, has a prior Arkansas conviction for possessing or viewing child pornography.

The federal indictment alleges that Knecht used a child victim to produce child pornography from Feb. 1 to Oct. 20, 2022. Knecht is also charged with one count of advertising child pornography, one count of distributing child pornography, and one count of possessing child pornography.

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 Ashley S. Turner. It was investigated by the Boone County Cyber Crimes Task Force 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."

Updated November 9, 2022

Topic
Project Safe Childhood