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

DECEMBER 17, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NIXA WOMAN SENTENCED TO 17 YEARS

FOR DISTRIBUTING CHILD PORN

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Matt J. Whitworth, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Nixa, Mo., woman was sentenced in federal court today for receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Amy Vogt, 35, of Nixa, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard E. Dorr this morning to 17 years and six months in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Vogt to serve a lifetime of supervised released following her term of imprisonment.

On Sept. 15, 2009, Vogt pleaded guilty to receiving and distributing child pornography and to possessing child pornography.

In February 2009, FBI agents contacted Vogt after receiving an investigative lead that indicated she had e-mailed 15 images of child pornography to an Illinois man. Vogt admitted to FBI agents that she had sent the images after the Illinois man requested images of girls from ages three to 14.

Vogt also described several instances where she broadcast herself via webcam molesting a juvenile as he slept.

Federal investigators discovered 139 images of child pornography on a computer seized by FBI agents. Numerous instant message sessions were also recovered, which refer to sexual acts perpetrated against children. In those messages, Vogt described numerous acts of sexual assault that she had perpetrated against the juvenile.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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