Springfield Man Sentenced for Child Sex Abuse

A Springfield, Mo., man has been sentenced to 17 years in federal prison without parole for the sexual exploitation of a child.

Ricky Lane Bowers, 27, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann A. Ketchmark on an exact date not specified in the source. The court also sentenced Bowers to 20 years of supervised release following incarceration.

The charges against Bowers stem from his admission that he had been in contact with a man who was arrested in Texas, who had sent Bowers images and videos of child sexual abuse. Bowers also admitted that he had taken pornographic photos of a child victim and sent them to the man in Texas.

Investigators seized Bowers’s cell phone that he used to communicate with the Texas defendant. Forensic examiners found files of child pornography on the cell phone, as well as evidence of images and videos of the child victim whom Bowers used to produce child pornography.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie L. Wan. It was investigated by the Greene County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, Homeland Security Investigations, the Springfield, Mo., Police Department, and the Southwest Missouri Cybercrimes Task Force.

The case highlights the ongoing efforts to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. It was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the federal government to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

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