Clinton County Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charges, Faces 10 Years in Prison for Subscribing to Child Pornography Websites

KANSAS CITY, MO—Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Clinton County, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to attempting to receive and possess child pornography after he subscribed to several child pornography websites.

Michael Pinkerton, 32, of Clinton County, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner this morning to the charges contained in a June 2, 2009, federal indictment. Under the terms of today’s plea agreement, the government and Pinkerton jointly recommend a sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

Pinkerton was arrested in November 2005, when the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department received a report that he was hiding in the women’s dressing room of a Clay County, Mo., Target store and photographing young girls as they were changing clothes. During the course of the investigation, officers discovered two Compaq Presario computers belonging to Pinkerton in a storage facility.

One of the computers contained several e-mails that confirmed Pinkerton’s subscription to five pay-for-view child pornography websites and indicated that Pinkerton also attempted to access a sixth pay-per-view site. An analysis revealed that the computers were also used to view child pornography from the pay-for-view child pornography websites.

The review of both computers showed that Pinkerton repeatedly conducted Internet searches for child pornography. The Internet favorites files of both computers contain numerous website titles suggesting child pornography along with rape.

This case is being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Beth Phillips. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department.