NEWS RELEASE
OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI
BETH PHILLIPS
Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106
www.justice.gov/index.html
JUNE 15, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PROJECT SAFE CHILDHOOD
KC MAN INDICTED FOR CHILD PORN
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man was indicted by a federal grand jury today on charges related to Internet child pornography.
Michael James Sheets, 44, of Kansas City, was charged in a five-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City.
Today’s indictment charges Sheets with three counts of receiving child pornography over the Internet between July 2007 and January 2009. Sheets is also charged with one count of distributing child pornography over the Internet and one count of possessing child pornography.
The indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require Sheets to forfeit to the government any property used to commit the alleged offenses, including a computer and two hard drives.
Phillips cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katharine Fincham. 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