KANSAS CITY, MO—Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Christopher Michael Donovan, 39, of Kansas City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips to six years in federal prison without parole.

On Oct. 15, 2014, Donovan pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography over the Internet.

On April 19, 2012, Donovan contacted an undercover FBI task force officer in an Internet chat room and sent images and movies of child pornography to the officer. Two of the images involved toddlers and one of the videos involved a drugged boy of approximately six years of age being molested.

Kansas City, Mo., law enforcement officers searched Donovan’s apartment and recovered a USB storage device that contained 40 movies of child pornography and 13 images of child pornography. These included videos of toddlers and other prepubescent boys. When interviewed by law enforcement officers, Donovan admitted to viewing and sharing child pornography over the Internet for several years. Donovan explained to officers that he downloaded child pornography from his computer onto the thumb drive; he no longer had his computer because it had been confiscated by drug dealers.

Donovan will be subject to federal and state sex offender registration requirements, which may apply throughout his life. Donovan must keep his registration current and notify the state sex offender registration agency of any changes to his name, place of residence, employment or student status, or other relevant information.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Luna. It was investigated by the Kansas City, 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.”