Former Springfield School District Employee Sentenced to 18 Years for Child Pornography

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a former employee at a Springfield, Mo., middle school was sentenced in federal court today for producing child pornography and distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Carrie Anne Allred, 34, of Springfield, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 18 years in federal prison without parole. Allred was immediately taken into custody at the conclusion of today’s sentencing hearing.

On March 22, 2017, Allred pleaded guilty to one count of the sexual exploitation of a child for the purpose of producing child pornography, and one count of receiving and distributing child pornography.

Prior to her arrest, Allred worked for five years in the kitchen at Wilson Creek Middle School. An officer with the Southwest Missouri Cybercrimes Task Force was conducting an undercover investigation on Sept. 20, 2012, and identified Allred’s computer as sharing images of child pornography over the Internet through a peer-to-peer file-sharing network. Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at her residence on Jan. 8, 2013, and seized a computer and two hard drives.

According to court documents, Allred video-recorded her dog performing a sexual act on a four-year-old child. Investigators located a substantial amount of child pornography of prepubescent children during their forensic examination of Allred’s electronic devices. Allred also admitted that she broadcasted, via webcam, videos of herself engaged in bestiality with her dogs.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by the FBI and the Southwest Missouri Cybercrimes 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."