Neosho Man Pleads Guilty to Child Porn

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Neosho, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Larry Don Hilburn, 29, of Neosho, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to the charge contained in a June 16, 2015, federal indictment.

According to today’s plea agreement, investigators with the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force identified Hilburn’s computer as sharing videos of child pornography through a peer-to-peer file-sharing network. Officers executed a search warrant at Hilburn’s residence and seized his computer, which contained numerous image and video files depicting the sexual abuse of children.

Under the terms of today’s plea agreement, the government will not seek a sentence of more than 10 years in federal prison without parole and Hilburn will not seek a sentence of less than five years in federal prison without parole. Hilburn may also be ordered to pay restitution to his victims. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Carney. It was investigated by the FBI and the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force.

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."