Project Safe Childhood
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Fordland, Mo., man who was on parole after being convicted of child molestation was sentenced in federal court today for downloading child pornography to his cell phone.
Thomas E. Wilson, 27, of Fordland, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips to 15 years in federal prison without parole. Wilson was convicted of child molestation in Webster County Circuit Court in 2006 and sentenced to seven years in state prison. He was released on parole in January 2011, and was still on parole at the time of the federal offense. Wilson’s parole was revoked; his federal sentence will be served consecutively to the state sentence, followed by federal supervised release for the rest of his life.
Wilson pleaded guilty on June 10, 2013. He was arrested after an Ozark, Mo., police officer noticed him sitting in his car in the parking lot of a closed business on Nov. 15, 2012. When the officer examined Wilson’s cell phone, he discovered images of child pornography. More than 150 images of child pornography were identified in a forensic examination of the phone.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by the Ozark, Mo., Police Department.
Project Safe Childhood
This 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. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
