SPRINGFIELD, Mo.- Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Goodman, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Joseph Robertson, 29, of Goodman, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard E. Dorr to the charge contained in an April 7, 2011, federal indictment.

According to today’s plea agreement, an officer with the Southwest Missouri Cybercrimes Task Force used a file-sharing program to download an image of child pornography that was being shared from Robertson’s computer. On Dec. 27, 2009, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Robertson’s residence and seized a computer. Investigators found numerous images of child pornography on the computer.

Under the terms of today’s binding plea agreement, Goodman will be sentenced to 14 years in federal prison without parole. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cybercrimes Task Force.

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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