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 in a case that originated in New Zealand.

Chad Michael Rein, 27, of Kansas City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips to 10 years in federal prison without parole.

On March 26, 2015, Rein pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography over the Internet.

The investigation began on May 17, 2012 when a detective from the police department for the country of New Zealand was working undercover in a peer-to-peer, file-sharing network. He downloaded multiple images and videos of child pornography from Rein’s computer. That information was forwarded to the local FBI Cyber Crimes Task Force and a search warrant was executed at Rein’s residence. Child pornography was found on a desktop computer and an external hard drive that were seized during the search.

According to court documents, Rein amassed a large collection of thousands of images and videos of child pornography, including adult/toddler rape scenes. The recurring theme in his collection was the violent and overwhelming application of sexual force by an adult on a restrained infant child.

At the time of his arrest, Rein lived with two sex offenders (one of whom was unregistered prior to this investigation) and worked at a restaurant located across the street from a preschool.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David A. Barnes. It was investigated by the FBI Cyber Crimes Task Force, the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department and the New Zealand Police Department.

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.”