KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to possessing child pornography.
Donovan K. Munter, 21, of Kansas City, waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to a federal information that charges him with one count of possessing child pornography.
In February 2015, federal agents conducting an investigation of a peer-to-peer file-sharing network identified Munter’s computer as sharing images and videos of child pornography over the Internet. Agents executed a search warrant at Munter’s residence on June 4, 2015, and seized several computers and related items.
A forensic examiner located more than 1,200 images and more than 300 movies of child pornography on the computers and electronic media, including images of children as young as three years old.
Under federal statutes, Munter is subject to a sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. 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 Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
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."