A 51-year-old El Dorado Springs man has been convicted of hoarding and distributing child pornography, sparking outrage in the community and a stern warning from federal authorities.
John Fitzgerald Mullings was found guilty of two counts of receiving and distributing child pornography, a crime that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of 40 years in federal prison without parole.
According to the Department of Justice, Mullings was caught with thousands of images and videos of child pornography, including rape and/or bondage of minors, after law enforcement received multiple reports from MeWe, Dropbox, and Snapchat of him uploading the content to their servers.
On March 2, 2021, officers seized Mullings’s cell phone, which contained 678 images and 96 videos of child pornography. Further investigation revealed that Mullings had uploaded the content to his business’s email and online storage accounts, including 14 cell phones, multiple computers, laptop computers, and computer tablets, and electronic storage devices.
The investigation, which was led by the Barry County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Cassville, Mo., Police Department, the El Dorado Springs, Mo., Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, the Springfield, Mo., Police Department, and the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, uncovered a staggering 14,249 images and 2,054 videos of child pornography among Mullings’s devices.
Mullings was charged in a superseding indictment with an additional count of receiving and distributing child pornography from March 3, 2021 to August 3, 2022, based on the images and videos found on his devices. A jury in the U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mo., deliberated for 27 minutes before returning guilty verdicts to U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephanie L. Wan and James J. Kelleher 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.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri urges parents, teachers, and law enforcement to report any suspected child exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at report.cybertip.org or call 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).
This case serves as a stark reminder of the devastating consequences of child pornography and the importance of holding perpetrators accountable.
The sentencing hearing for Mullings is scheduled to take place after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
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.
Related Federal Cases
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- Branson EMT and Joplin Couple Indicted for Child Sex Exploitation · Missouri
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- Independence Man Pleads Guilty to Child Porn Distribution · Illinois
Key Facts
- State: Missouri
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Sex Crimes|Cybercrime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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