June 17, 2015

Potosi, Neosho Men Indicted for Child Exploitation

SPRINGFIELD, MO—Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Potosi, Mo., man and a Neosho, Mo., man have been indicted by a federal grand jury in separate and unrelated cases related to child pornography and exploitation.

USA v. Nosser

Kevin Michael Nosser, 37, of Potosi, Mo., was charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield, Mo., today.

The federal indictment alleges that Nosser used the Internet and a cell phone to entice a minor in Lawrence County, Mo., to engage in illicit sexual activity on May 22 and 23, 2015.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by the FBI, the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Lawrence County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department.

USA v. Hilburn

Larry Don Hilburn, 28, of Neosho, Mo., was charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield on Tuesday, June 16, 2015. The federal indictment charges Hilburn with one count of receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet on Sept. 8, 2014, and with one count of possessing child pornography on Oct. 1, 2014.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Carney. It was investigated by the FBI and the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force.

Dickinson cautioned that the charges contained in these indictments are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

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.”