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.usdoj.gov../index.html

JUNE 1, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PROJECT SAFE CHILDHOOD

PLATTE CITY MAN SENTENCED FOR

RECEIVING CHILD PORN

            KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Platte City, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for receiving child pornography over the Internet.

            Samuel T. Smith, 44, of Platte City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple this morning to five years in federal prison without parole.

            On Feb. 8, 2010, Smith pleaded guilty to using his credit card to subscribe to the child pornography Web sites Pedo Heaven and Dreamzone, from which he downloaded numerous videos of child pornography.

            As part of an investigation into a subscription child pornography Web site called Pedo Heaven, agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement obtained a search warrant for the server where one of the child pornography Web sites was hosted. The search of the server revealed images and videos of child pornography along with log files containing data regarding individuals who accessed the site. Agents were able to determine which specific images were accessed by the subscribers and at what date and time the images were accessed.

            On April 5, 2008, Smith’s credit card was processed for $79.99 and he was granted access to the Pedo Heaven site. The server’s log files revealed that numerous videos of child pornography were accessed by Smith. When ICE agents executed a search warrant at Smith’s residence, they seized a computer that contained images and videos of child pornography as well as 12 pages of child pornography images that Smith said he printed from his computer.

            An examination of Smith’s computer revealed that he had accessed at least 600 child pornography images and several child pornography movies, including images of minors younger than 12 years old. Investigators found evidence that Smith also purchased a 30-day subscription to Dreamzone for $99.

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.

            This case was prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Beth Phillips. It was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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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

http://www.justice.gov../index.html