Independence man shared hundreds of child pornography videos and photos, feds say
An Independence man pleaded guilty to federal charges Wednesday after he was accused of possessing and sharing hundreds of videos and images of child pornography, according to prosecutors.
The probe into James Clingenpeel, 31, began during a national FBI investigation into a network that enabled its members to share files of child pornography with one another on the internet. Clingenpeel had an account since October 2013, prosecutors said.
After an undercover agent invited him to join his network, Clingenpeel shared more than 430 files that contained 9.1 GB of content, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Missouri.
In April 2016, officers seized three electronic devices from Clingenpeel’s home, leading to the discovery of 550 videos and 180 images of child pornography as well as more than 100 images of what authorities described as “possible child erotica,” according to prosecutors.
Clingenpeel was indicted on three charges in October 2017. He pleaded guilty to two: attempting to distribute child pornography and possessing child pornography. As part of his plea, he admitted he used the network to distribute a video of child pornography.
He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison.
The case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.
