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

Jesse Lee Talley, 33, of Joplin, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to eight years in federal prison without parole.

On Oct. 21, 2014, Talley pleaded guilty to receiving and distributing child pornography. Agents with the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crime Task Force identified Talley’s computer using a peer-to-peer file-sharing program to transmit videos of child pornography over the Internet. Agents executed a search warrant at Talley’s residence and seized his computer, cell phone and numerous CDs, all of which contained images and videos of child pornography.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crime Task Force and the FBI.

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.”