SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a convicted sex offender in Reeds Spring, Mo., has been indicted by a federal grand jury for the sexual exploitation of a minor.
Jeffrey Raymond Everett, Jr., 22, of Reeds Spring, was charged in a two-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield, Mo., on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017. Everett has a prior state conviction for possessing child pornography.
The federal indictment alleges that Everett used a minor to produce child pornography from April 20 to April 30, 2017. Everett is also charged with using the Internet and a cell phone to attempt to entice the minor to engage in illicit sexual activity.
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 Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force and the Monett, 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