NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

MATT J. WHITWORTH

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

MAY 4, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PROJECT SAFE CHILDHOOD

FORMER HARRISONVILLE MAN SENTENCED

FOR CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

            KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Matt J. Whitworth, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a former Harrisonville, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for receiving child pornography over the Internet.

            William Alan Corkill, 33, of Surprise, Ariz., formerly of Harrisonville, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ortrie D. Smith this afternoon to five years in federal prison without parole.

            On Jan. 8, 2009, Corkill pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography over the Internet and downloading a video depicting child pornography on March 17, 2007. Corkill was discovered as a result of Operation Emissary, an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement, when he used a credit card to purchase a membership to a child pornography Web site.

            During a forensic examination of Corkill’s computer hard drive, investigators discovered eight photographs and three videos of child pornography. Theses photographs and videos included images of minor girls posing nude and in sexually suggestive positions.

            This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Hiller. It was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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.

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This news release, as well as additional information about the office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, is available on-line at

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html