July 29, 2015

Cassville Man Sentenced to 25 Years for Child Pornography Offenses

SPRINGFIELD, MO—Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Cassville, Mo., man has been sentenced in federal court for receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Matthew Casas, 26, of Cassville, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough on Tuesday, July 28, 2015, to 25 years in federal prison without parole.

On Feb. 5, 2015, Casas pleaded guilty to receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet and to possessing child pornography.

A business in Monett, Mo., contacted the local police department in 2013 when a customer who rented a smart TV notified them he discovered child pornography stored on the device’s memory. The television, which had been previously rented by Casas, was equipped to store the last 25 images viewed on the TV.

In February 2014, officers received three cybertips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The tips involved images of pre-pubescent females that were posted online on Casa’s Flickr account. Investigators determined that those images were posted from a computer at Casas’s residence. Officers executed a search warrant at the residence on Feb. 28, 2014.

Casas admitted that he downloaded and distributed child pornography to his Flickr account and that he also downloaded images of child pornography onto the smart TV that he rented.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Abram McGull, II. It was investigated by the FBI, the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, Missouri Internet Crimes Against Children, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Barry County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Joplin, Mo., Police Department and the Monett, Mo., 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.”