KANSAS CITY, KAN.– A Kansas man is facing prison time after he admitted to downloading child pornographic images from the Internet. Justin Packham, 34, of Shawnee pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography.
According to court documents, in December 2020, the Shawnee Police Department received a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that dozens of child pornography images had been uploaded into Google Drive. An investigation revealed the email account used for the upload belonged to Justin Packham.
In February 2021, Packham was arrested for a parole violation with the State of Kansas Department of Corrections. After obtaining a search warrant for his residence, Shawnee investigators following up on the cybertip found more than 1,000 child pornography photos and videos on various electronic devices and thumb drives. Packham admitted to law enforcement that he’d downloaded the images from the Internet.
Packham is scheduled to be sentenced on December 8 and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The U.S. Secret Service and the Shawnee Police Department are investigating the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Faiza Alhambra is prosecuting the case.
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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 https://www.justice.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."