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Convicted Child Pornographer Faces 5-Year Minimum Sentence
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Missouri man, John Fitzgerald Mullings, 51, of El Dorado Springs, has been convicted of receiving and distributing thousands of images and videos of child pornography.
Mullings was found guilty on two counts of receiving and distributing child pornography following a 27-minute deliberation by the jury in the U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mo.
Law enforcement officials received multiple reports from MeWe, Dropbox, and Snapchat of Mullings uploading images and videos of child pornography to their servers. On March 2, 2021, investigators contacted Mullings at his residence and seized his cell phone, which contained 678 images and 96 videos of child pornography, including rape and/or bondage of minors.
Further investigation found that Mullings’s devices contained a total of 14,249 images and 2,054 videos of child pornography. A search warrant executed at his residence on August 3, 2022, uncovered 11 electronic devices containing child pornography, including a tablet with 5,197 images and 211 videos.
Mullings was initially charged with one count of receiving and distributing child pornography from February 2, 2020, to March 2, 2021. An additional charge was added in a superseding indictment, alleging that he continued to receive and distribute child pornography from March 3, 2021, to August 3, 2022.
Under federal statutes, Mullings is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of 40 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.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephanie L. Wan and James J. Kelleher. It was investigated 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.
This case is 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc.
Key Facts
- State: Missouri
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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