SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - A Marshfield, Mo., man who is a registered sex offender was sentenced in federal court today for downloading child pornography to his cell phone.
Michael Ray Jones, 60, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Beth Phillips to 15 years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Jones to serve 10 years on supervised release following incarceration. Jones has a prior conviction for possessing child pornography.
On Oct. 12, 2021, Jones pleaded guilty to one count of receiving child pornography. Jones admitted that he used his cell phone to access and download child pornography.
Jones was stopped by a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper on U.S. Highway 60 in Webster County, Mo., on July 28, 2020, because the Ford F-150 he was driving had expired license plates. During the stop, Jones showed his cell phone to the trooper, which included multiple images in a photo gallery, and the trooper realized that some of the images were child pornography. During a forensic examination of Jones’s cell phone, investigators found numerous images of child pornography.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
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
