St. Joseph Man Charged with Producing Child Pornography

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A St. Joseph, Missouri, man was charged in federal court today with producing, distributing, and possessing child pornography.

Tyler Bradley Wirth, 31, was charged in a four-count criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., with two counts of producing child pornography, one count of distributing child pornography over the internet, and one count of possessing child pornography. Wirth remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing on Friday, Aug. 14.

According to an affidavit filed in support of today’s federal criminal complaint, Wirth communicated online with FBI online covert employees in New York and Kansas City during an investigation into a group of users who expressed a sexual interest in minors. Wirth allegedly sent each of the FBI online covert employees the same image of child pornography depicting a prepubescent girl identified in court documents as “Minor Victim 1 (MV1).”

Wirth sent the FBI employee in Kansas City several videos of child pornography, the affidavit says. 

Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Wirth’s residence on Monday, Aug. 10. Wirth told officers he possessed about 1,000 images of child sexual abuse, including images of MV1 and a second victim, identified in court documents as “Minor Victim 2.” He allegedly produced pornographic images of both child victims and distributed those images to other users via social media in order to receive additional images of child pornography from those users.

The charges contained in this complaint are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Borgnino. It was investigated by the FBI.

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."