Kansas City Man Sentenced for Attempting to Receive Child Pornography

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

Marshall A. Blue, 24, of Kansas City, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan to five years in federal prison without parole. In addition, Blue must pay $5,000 in restitution to a known victim whose sexual abuse is portrayed in at least one of the child pornography movies that were downloaded to his computer, or $3,000 if he pays within 30 days of the sentencing date.

On Jan. 6, 2011, Blue pleaded guilty to attempting to receive child pornography over the Internet between May 13, 2008, and Feb. 12, 2009.

In the course of an undercover investigation, officers with the Independence, Mo., Police Department identified a computer listing child pornography files as available for sharing over a peer-to-peer file-sharing network. When task force officers executed a search warrant at Blue’s residence, he admitted that he used his grandparents’ computer to search for movies of child pornography on the Internet. Blue told investigators that he only searched for videos, not photos, and that he had downloaded from 10 to 25 child pornography movies over the past four years. Some of the files that were downloaded to Blue’s computer were also available to share with others over the Internet.

Several movies of child pornography were found on Blue’s computer, including depictions of prepubescents and depictions of sadistic or violent content.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katharine Fincham. It was investigated by the Independence, Mo., Police Department and the FBI CyberCrimes Task Force.

Project Safe Childhood

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.