A former church youth ministry volunteer from Rolla, Missouri has admitted to possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material. Bradley Thomas Colvin, aged 52, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court in St. Louis to a charge of receipt and distribution of child pornography.
Colvin acknowledged that he had been searching for, viewing, and downloading child sexual abuse material over several years. He was found to have at least 833 videos and 5,566 images containing such material on multiple devices including four computers, a tablet, an external hard drive, and five USB thumb drives.
The investigation began when Colvin distributed child pornography through a peer-to-peer file-sharing program to an officer with the Missouri State Highway Patrol who was conducting investigations. Following a court-approved search of his home, Colvin admitted during a polygraph examination that he had touched a minor for sexual gratification at a pool party years earlier.
Colvin is scheduled for sentencing on June 18. The offense carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison. The U.S. Attorney’s Office intends to request a ten-year sentence.
The case was investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Missouri State Technical Assistance Team. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is handling the prosecution.
This case falls under Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. It coordinates federal, state, and local resources to prosecute offenders exploiting children online and aims to identify and rescue victims.
