KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that an Arkansas man, formerly of Marshall, Mo., pleaded guilty in federal court today to possessing child pornography.
Kenneth Larrechea, 48, of Marshall, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Matt J. Whitworth to possessing child pornography. Larrechea also had an apartment in Blackburn, Mo.
Larrechea was identified as one of 158 individuals who received child pornography through Kik (an instant messaging and chat application) from a New York man, who pleaded guilty in a separate case in the Northern District of New York. An FBI agent executed a search warrant at Larrechea’s Marshall residence on Dec. 8, 2015, and seized several electronic media devices, including computers, hard drives and cell phones.
Investigators discovered several images on an SD card in Larrechea’s cell phone of a child victim, approximately 10 or 11 years, getting in and out of a shower. The images were screen shots taken from a video file. The child victim told investigators she was not aware that she was being video recorded or photographed.
More than 400 videos and more than 70 images of child pornography and erotica were located on Larrechea’s cell phone and SD card.
Under the terms of today’s plea agreement, Larrechea will be sentenced to 13 years in federal prison without parole, followed by a 10-year term of supervised release. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Luna. It was investigated by the FBI and the Marshall, 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)
