Kenneth Howard Worthy, Child Pornography, Missouri 2021

West Plains Man Convicted of Child Pornography

A jury in the U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mo., has convicted Kenneth Howard Worthy, 46, of producing and distributing child pornography. The charges against Worthy include one count of the sexual exploitation of a child by producing child pornography and one count of distributing child pornography.

The case against Worthy began to unfold when law enforcement officers contacted him at his residence on March 4, 2021. During the investigation, Worthy admitted to using a child victim under the age of two to produce child pornography. He also confessed to sending pornographic images of the child victim to another person.

Officer’s seized Worthy’s cell phone, and investigators found 10 images of child pornography that depicted the victim. The images were used as evidence against Worthy during his trial.

Following the presentation of evidence, the jury deliberated for 45 minutes before returning guilty verdicts to U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool. The trial began on Monday, Dec. 5.

Worthy’s criminal activities have been deemed a serious offense, and he faces a 15-year mandatory minimum prison sentence without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress, but the actual sentence will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cameron Beaver, James J. Kelleher, and Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, and the West Plains, Mo., Police Department.

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.

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