Columbia Man Sentenced for Possession of Child Pornography

JEFFERSON CITY, MO—David M. Ketchmark, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Columbia, Missouri man was sentenced in federal court today for possessing child pornography.

Norman Leroy Troxel, 46, of Columbia, was sentenced by U.S Chief District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan to six years and six months in federal prison without parole.

On January 18, 2012, Troxel pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography. Troxel admitted that he possessed child pornography from December 19, 2009 to June 17, 2010.

A man who was performing repairs on Troxel’s computer discovered 50-100 videos of suspected child pornography while he was working on the laptop. When law enforcement officers examined the computer, they identified 31 of 79 videos of children as child pornography and many of the 192 photographs of children as child erotica. When officers searched Troxel’s residence, they found a Sony camcorder and an 8mm tape that had been created by recording from his television as it displayed images and videos of children being sexually molested. The videotape contained an hour and 30 minutes of images and videos of children as young as three years of age being sexually molested.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence E. Miller. It was investigated by the Boone County Sheriff’s Department Cyber Crimes Task Force and the FBI.

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.”

This news release, as well as additional information about the office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, is available online at http://www.justice.gov/usao/mow/index.html.