A Springfield, Mo., man who is a registered sex offender was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison without parole for receiving child pornography, which was discovered on his cell phone during an investigation into threats he made to a sheriff’s department employee.
Joshua Emanuel Wood, 46, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough for one count of receiving and distributing child pornography. The court also sentenced Wood to 10 years of supervised release following incarceration.
On Dec. 12, 2023, Wood pleaded guilty to the charge after investigators found 107 images of child pornography on his Google Pixel cell phone, including depictions of infants being raped. The investigation began when Wood left 41 threatening voice mail messages for the employee of the Greene County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department who was in charge of registering sex offenders.
Wood had a history of sex crimes, having been convicted of possessing child pornography in 2018. The investigation found that Wood had been wiping his cell phone frequently, making it difficult to determine the full extent of his involvement with 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 Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, and the Springfield, Mo., Police Department.
The 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. 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.
Wood is required to register as a sex offender due to his 2018 conviction of possessing child pornography. The state felony charge related to the harassment of the sheriff’s department employee is still pending.
According to court documents, Wood’s cell phone contained web searches for child pornography and visits to suspected child pornography websites. The forensic analysis of Wood’s cell phone demonstrated that he had been receiving child pornography files over a period of just a few days.
Related Federal Cases
- Springfield Sex Offender Joshua Wood Gets 15 Years for Child Porn · Missouri
- Maryville Sex Offender Edward Grimes Gets 19 Years for Child Porn · New York
- Republic Sex Offender Indicted for Child Porn Charges · Missouri
- Missouri Sex Offender Caught with Child Porn Gets 15 Years · Missouri
- El Dorado Springs Man Convicted of Child Pornography Ring · Missouri
Key Facts
- State: Missouri
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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