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Press Release

Jefferson City Man Sentenced for Child Porn

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

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Jefferson City, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for receiving and attempting to distribute child pornography over the Internet.

 

Dustin Clay Trail, 35, of Jefferson City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to five years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Trail to a term of supervised release for 10 years following incarceration.

 

Trail, who pleaded guilty on Aug. 13, 2015, admitted that he received child pornography over the Internet on Sept. 3, 2013. Trail also pleaded guilty to attempting to distribute child pornography over the Internet on Sept. 4, 2013, and to possessing child pornography from May 2013 to Oct. 31, 2013.

 

The investigation began in May 2013 when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received CyberTip report regarding child pornography being sent by e-mail. Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Trail’s residence and seized a desktop computer, three hard drives and compact discs, which Trail must forfeit to the government. Investigators discovered 14,675 thumbnail images on the desktop hard drive that contained possible child pornography. Additionally, 20 web video fragments were recovered. A total of 65 images containing child pornography associated with e-mail exchanges were recovered.

 

According to court documents, Trail was a prolific user and exchanger of child pornography. Trail admitted that he had been trading child pornography for a couple of years with approximately a dozen individuals online. According to court documents, Trail exchanged images depicting extremely young, prepubescent females engaged in graphic sexual acts with adults.

 

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Lynn. It was investigated by the FBI, the Boone County Cyber Crimes Task Force and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

 

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 May 16, 2016

Topic
Project Safe Childhood