SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Morrisville, Mo., man was indicted by a federal grand jury today for distributing child pornography over the Internet.

John M. Davison, 30, of Morrisville, was charged in a two-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield.

Today’s indictment alleges that Davison distributed child pornography over the Internet on April 3 and 22, 2010. The indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require Davison to forfeit to the government a Dell laptop computer that was used to commit the alleged offenses.

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 Randall D. Eggert. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crime Task Force and the Polk County, Mo., Sheriff’s 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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