U. S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming | U.S. Department of Justice
A registered sex offender from St. Francois County, Missouri, has admitted to possessing child pornography. Shane Elijah Bottom, 39, of Bismarck, pleaded guilty to the charges as a prior offender. Investigators with the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control identified Bottom during an online investigation targeting individuals sharing child sexual abuse material.
On November 19 and 20 of 2023, Bottom distributed numerous files containing such material via a peer-to-peer file-sharing program. These actions led investigators to trace the files back to him. Bottom later confessed to downloading and viewing the images. An agent with the U.S. Secret Service found at least 904 images on his phone, with 373 depicting identified victims of sexual abuse.
In 2016, Bottom was convicted in Johnson County (Missouri) Circuit Court for two counts of first-degree child molestation involving a seven-year-old victim and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Both parties have agreed to recommend a sentence of 20 years in prison followed by life on supervised release for Bottom.
The case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson following investigations by the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the U.S. Secret Service.
This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse through federal, state, and local resources.
