SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a man arrested near Kansas City, Mo., has been charged in federal court with attempting to entice a missing Springfield, Mo., teen to engage in illicit sexual activity.
Dominic Keith Pearson, 25, no known address, was charged in a federal criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mo., on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017. Pearson, who was arrested on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, in Jackson County, Mo., had his initial court appearance this afternoon in the U.S. District in Kansas City, Mo., and remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing.
According to an affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, the 13-year-old child victim - identified in court documents as “Jane Doe" - was reported missing from her home in Springfield on Jan. 8, 2017. Investigators found a series of messages between Pearson and Jane Doe on a cell phone, the affidavit says, indicating that Pearson was traveling to meet Jane Doe.
On Jan. 10, 2017, Pearson and Jane Doe were located in a truckers lounge at Petro Truck Stop off Interstate 70 near Oak Grove, Mo. Both Pearson and Jane Doe had luggage with them in the lounge.
Dickinson cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by the Springfield, Mo., Police Department, the FBI, the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force and the Oak Grove, 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, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
