Six Children Victimized by Pornography, Obscenity
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Topeka, Kan., woman was indicted by a federal grand jury today alongside an Independence, Mo., man who was previously indicted on charges related to the sexual exploitation of six child victims.
Cynthia Ann Holman, 44, of Topeka, was charged in a 12-count superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo. Today’s superseding indictment replaces a June 2, 2017, indictment that charged only Travis Howard White, 25, of Independence.
The superseding indictment alleges that, between Sept. 1, 2016, and March 1, 2017, Holman and White conspired to transport a minor (identified as Minor Victim 1) across state lines with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
Today’s indictment also contains the original 11 counts against White. White is charged with enticing Minor Victim 1 to engage in illicit sexual activity from Feb. 5, 2016, to March 1, 2017. The indictment also charges White with two counts of using Minor Victim 1 to produce child pornography. White also is charged with two counts of transferring obscene material to Minor Victim 1, including numerous images depicting horses and dogs engaged in sexual activity with humans.
The indictment also charges White with one count of receiving child pornography over the Internet and five counts of transferring obscene material to a minor under the age of 16, which occurred from August 2016 to January 2017. These charges are related to five additional child victims.
According to an affidavit filed in support of the original criminal complaint, the investigation began when law enforcement agents learned Minor Victim 1 was living with White. She told investigators that she met White online in January 2016, when she was 13 years old and living in Kansas. They began “sexting" and exchanging sexually explicit nude photographs, she said. When she arrived in Kansas City, Mo., in September 2016, she stayed at a hotel for a few days before moving in to live with White. The victim was recovered by the FBI and placed in emergency police protective custody on March 1, 2017.
Investigators found numerous Facebook messages between White and the victim. Their conversations were of a sexual nature, the affidavit says, including instructions from White to the victim about what sorts of pictures to take and what sort of activity to engage in. The victim allegedly sent White several sexually explicit images of herself, the affidavit says, and White in turn sent her a nude image of himself. White also sent the victim approximately three dozen images depicting horses and dogs engaged in the sexually explicit abuse of females of varying and indeterminate age, according to the affidavit.
White told investigators he engaged in sexual activity with the victim at numerous locations in the metropolitan area, the affidavit says. White said he engaged in similar sexual discussions with approximately “50 to 100" other females, a number of whom were underage, via Facebook and other means.
Larson cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick D. Daly. It was investigated by the FBI.
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
