Joplin Sex Offender Sentenced to 17 Years for Child Pornography

A Joplin, Mo., man with a prior sex conviction was sentenced in federal court today for receiving and distributing child pornography over the internet.

Delbert C. Feezell, 58, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips to 17 years and six months in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Feezell to 15 years of supervised release following incarceration, and ordered him to pay $1,000 in restitution to one of his victims.

Feezell, who has prior convictions for sexually assaulting an 8-year-old child and for indecent exposure, pleaded guilty on May 24, 2018.

The investigation began on Nov. 20, 2015, when Feezell uploaded a video of child pornography to YouTube, which was reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Feezell uploaded additional images of child pornography to another website on April 7, 2016, after which a search warrant was executed at his residence. Investigators seized a laptop computer that contained 785 video files and five images of child pornography. The depictions include children as young as toddlers being sexually assaulted by adult males. Feezell engaged in his illegal activities using his unwitting neighbor’s internet service.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri 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."