SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Pleasant Hope, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for possessing child pornography.

Phillip M. Brumfield, 59, of Pleasant Hope, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard E. Dorr to 10 years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Brumfield to forfeit to the government four computers and a VHS camcorder that were used to commit the offense.

On May 5, 2010, a jury convicted Brumfield of possessing child pornography.

Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Brumfield’s residence on May 28, 2008, while investigating allegations that Brumfield had been exposing himself to children in the area for a period of time, and that he had solicited one of the children to videotape them having sex in his home. Officers seized several computers and computer media that contained images of child pornography.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall D. Eggert. It was investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Polk County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department and the Pleasant Hope, Mo., Police Department.

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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