Bolivar Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Child Pornography

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Bolivar, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for receiving and distributing child pornography over the internet.

Kevin Robert Thomas, 46, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to 20 years in federal prison without parole.

Thomas pleaded guilty on June 11, 2018. The investigation began when a law enforcement officer, using investigative tools for unlawful internet usage, noticed that Thomas was using peer-to-peer file-sharing software to make child pornography available on his computer. Officers executed a search warrant at Thomas’s residence and seized three computers.

Investigators examined the computers and found 261 images and videos of child pornography on two of the computers. The images and videos depicted children from five to 16 years old.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Abram McGull, II. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crime Task Force, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Polk County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department and the Bolivar, Mo., Police Department.

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."