project safe childhood
kC man sentenced to 25 years for producing child porn
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - David M. Ketchmark, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for producing child pornography.
Michael D. Toal, 57, of Kansas City, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan to 25 years in federal prison without parole. Toal was formerly a respiratory therapist and a law school graduate (although he never passed the bar exam).
On Sept. 8, 2010, Toal pleaded guilty to using a minor to produce child pornography. According to the plea agreement, Toal told FBI agents that he sexually abused an 8-year-old child who was in his care at his house. While the victim was asleep, Toal took sexually explicit photographs of the child with his digital camera and then loaded them onto his computer.
The federal investigation began on Aug. 10, 2009, when an agent at the FBI=s Denver, Col., division conducted an investigation using peer-to-peer file-sharing software and downloaded images of child pornography that were available to be shared from Toal=s computer, which was using a similar software program. When FBI agents interviewed Toal at his home, Toal admitted that he had downloaded, viewed and then deleted child pornography, including images of the sexual abuse of children under the age of 12, and images of violent sexual content with minors.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katharine Fincham. It was investigated by task force officers with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Project Safe Childhood
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."
