JOPLIN, Mo. (KODE) — According to KODE, a former Joplin police officer has pleaded guilty to receiving and distributing child pornography.
The former police officer, Gary Mckinney, plead guilty in federal court before Magistrate Judge David P. Rush.
KODE says Mckinney was a police officer in Joplin for seven years until May 2006.
The investigation began in September of 2018 when Facebook reported a user had uploaded a file of the sexual assault of a four-year-old child.
The Facebook user was contacted and was conversing with McKinney using a messaging app called KIK.
KODE says Law enforcement officers got a search warrant to McKinney’s home and found 506 images and 148 videos of child pornography on his cell phone.
McKinney was using two messaging apps. KIK and Telegram, to exchange child pornography.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, McKinney has a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison without parole, up to 20 years without parole.
A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
