A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging a Kansas man with child pornography crimes following a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), joint law enforcement partner probe.
Walter Haskin, 27, of Cottonwood Falls, was indicted on one count of attempted distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. According to a criminal complaint, the Kansas Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force launched an investigation after Dropbox submitted a tip through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children hotline indicating the file sharing service said it had detected child pornography uploaded to an account.
HSI, the Kansas ICAC, and the Wichita Police Department are investigating the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Molly Gordon and Jason Hart are prosecuting the case. An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Learn more about HSI’s mission to combat child exploitation in your community, on Twitter @HSIKansasCity.
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.
Original source can be found here.
