Defendant admits possessing child porn
In the news
A 28-year-old Maryville man has pleaded guilty to five counts of possessing child pornography stemming from an investigation conducted last summer by the Nodaway County Sheriff’s Office and the Western Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force.
Derek J. Oberhauser admitted possessing child porn this week in 4th District Circuit Court and was declared guilty of committing five Class B felonies, each of which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Sentencing was set for 8:30 a.m. Monday, July 25
Oberhauser was arrested in early July 2015 after authorities found hundreds of video and still images on his computer in the course of a three-month investigation.
According to court documents, an IP address linked to Oberhauser’s residence was used to download explicit photos of children using eMule, a free peer-to-peer file sharing application.
A search warrant was issued for a Maryville residence on May 1, 2015, and authorities seized two computers, which were transported to the Heart of America Regional Computer Forensics Lab in Kansas City.
Authorities stated that the resulting analysis yielded 350 illicit videos and approximately 300 still images.
Specific evidence resulting in the charges included five videos depicting girls between the approximate ages of 3 to 14 involved in sexual acts.
Court documents state that following his arrest, Oberhauser admitted to downloading child pornography using eMule while residing in Maryville and viewing the images for “personal gratification.”
In a statement released Wednesday, Nodaway County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rice thanked the Sheriff’s Office and the task force for helping bring “yet another child predator to justice.”
