Kevin Patrick Thompson, 38, of Emporia has been sentenced to 78 months in federal prison on for possession of child pornography, according to an announcement Wednesday from Jim Cross, public information officer for U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren in Wichita.
Thompson had pleaded guilty in April to one count of receiving child pornography through the mail and the Internet, and one count of possession of child pornography. The crimes took place between April 12, 2001, through Feb. 3, 2006, in Emporia.
He initially had been indicted by a federal grand jury in U.S. District Court on June 13, 2007. The first count of the indictment accused him of receiving interstate and foreign shipments through mail and computer of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
The second count accused him of possessing one or more “books, periodicals, films, videotapes and other matter” showing a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct, according to a Gazette story on April 9 of this year, after Thompson pleaded guilty.
“In his plea, Thompson admitted that on March 15, 2001, he ordered three child pornography video tapes from a Web site,” Cross said. “The tapes were delivered to Thompson by a postal inspector on April 12, 2001.”
In a separate investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents determined that Thompson had purchased memberships to six child pornography sites that allowed him to download child pornography from the Internet.
Investigators executed a search warrant at Thompson’s home on Feb. 3, 2007, and seized a computer and other items, Cross said in a news release. Authorities found hundreds of images of child pornography on the computer.
Thompson had been charged in Lyon County District Court in February 2002 with three counts of sexual exploitation of a child, according to Gazette records. An affidavit filed in that case stated that Thompson allegedly had contacted an undercover Internet site created by a U.S. postal inspector in St. Paul, Minn. He was not prosecuted in that case, though the investigation into Thompson’s activities continued.
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Posted by madpoet (anonymous) on August 21, 2008 at 3:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Scary! I hope he never acted out his impulses on a child. I have to wonder how many more are lurking out there. Is it getting worse or are they just catching more pedophiles?
Posted by create (anonymous) on August 21, 2008 at 3:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sounds to me like the law has developed more sophisticated means of catching these perverts. Technology is a fair playing field. The more underground violators go, the deeper law enforcement searches. I like the idea of the postal inspector having created an undercover Internet site. Of course evidence like that would be considered entrapment; however, his identity is all they want anyway.
Posted by OutsiderJ (anonymous) on August 21, 2008 at 4:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I think that pederasts and pedophiles have been around since the beginning of time Madpoet. I think that with the development of the internet it has just become alot easier to catch them. But with the development of the internet, it also became alot easier for these sickos to access the material that excites them.
I think they left out a key part of his sentencing, it is the part with the blindfold and the crotch high table saw.
Posted by dale011 (anonymous) on August 21, 2008 at 4:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
There is a website that you can go to that shows you on a map all the sex offenders that live in and near Emporia. If you looked at it you would be amazed and scared.
Posted by dhcc66 (anonymous) on August 21, 2008 at 4:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
it's not entrapment if people go to a website freely. kind of like the prostitution stings they did in wichita yesterday. if somebody freely goes after something, and they just happen to go to the undercover person/website looking for something illegal...nobody entraped anybody. they just got caught.
Posted by create (anonymous) on August 21, 2008 at 5:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank you, dhcc66, what you say makes sense. Good, that really does level the playing field.
Posted by outdoorguy (anonymous) on August 21, 2008 at 8:51 p.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by outdoorguy (anonymous) on August 22, 2008 at 8:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Sorry, my appoligies, I'll change my wording, Kevin good luck in the pen, you'll need it.
Posted by Bwooken (anonymous) on August 22, 2008 at 9:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Want to know what happend on the initial case?
On February 25, 2002, Kevin Patrick Thompson was arrested on an outstanding arrest warrant for three counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Child, KSA 21-3516(a) (2). He was booked into and released from the Lyon County Jail on a $25,000 surety bond. He made an initial appearance on February 27, 2002 at the Lyon County District Court, Emporia, Kansas where he entered a Not Guilty plea.
On August 8, 2002 Mr. Thompson appeared at Lyon County court, Emporia, Kansas and received a 36 month pretrial diversion. NO INCARCERATION, NO FINES OR RESTITUTION WERE ORDERED.
In short...Thompson received a mere pat on the backside for the first time he was charged with child porn. Maybe the prosecutor should have been a little tougher on him in the first place then this current news story could be moot.
Posted by create (anonymous) on August 22, 2008 at 9:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
We cannot blame the prosecutor if the laws are not stringent enough. In view of this case, now would be a good time to contact our legislators and ask them to put some teeth into child porn violations, sharp enough to bite first time offenders.
Rep. Don Hill hill@house.state.ks.us>
Rep. Peggy Mast mast@house.state.ks.us>
Senator Jim Barnett barnett@senate.state.ks.us>
Posted by slipandslide (anonymous) on August 22, 2008 at 11:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
outdoorguy, i liked your first comment better than the second one. hope hes busy painting a target!
Posted by madpoet (anonymous) on August 22, 2008 at 1:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
dale011-I have checked the map and it's scary. I made sure my daycare provider knew about it too. I'm just glad we live out in the country and know our neighbors. The world is full of sick people. When I was in high school in a town half the size of Emporia, an older man tried to coax me into his van. It was terrifying! The world has been a dangerous place for a long time. I just wonder if the Internet makes it worse since they can get their porn fix more easily. Maybe it makes them worse since it's so available. They could rationalize with so many sites it's not so horrible since so many people do it. I just don't know. All I know is that when I read about stuff like that I want to grab my child and hug him and never let him go.
Posted by TacoBellB (anonymous) on August 22, 2008 at 3:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
bwooken
no pun intended on your description of his punishment (pat on the backside) right? Sorry, that made me laugh, but you probably didn't mean it that way. I agree that the punishments for pedophiles are way too lenient!
How about that Topeka judge that let that old man off with PROBATION (that's right - zero jail time) after he was found guilty of raping a little girl?! Even the law dictated that the man should get a minimum of some jail time, but this arrogant, egotistical judge thought he had the right to go outside the letter of the law and make up his own punishment (if you can even call it that). Makes me think that judge must be a pedophile himself and that is why he goes so easy on them especially since this wasn't the first time a proven pedophile received a slap on the wrist from him. That judge should be removed from the bench ASAP!
Posted by Bwooken (anonymous) on August 22, 2008 at 4:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Create,
The laws were stringent enough in 2001 when Inspector and Emporia Police made the controlled delivery and searched his porn ridden apartment. There were minumun mandatory sentence guidelines in place for these types of crimes.
There were no prosecuting attorney's who were willing grow a spine or put enough velcro on their backs to stand up and say "We will not stand for this in our community!!!" Later, after this case was done the Postal Inspectors and the US Attorney's office in KC developed MACE (Mero Area Child Exploitation), which drew attention to this garbage.
It was a darn good AUSA who looked at Thompson's case from Emporia and decided justice had not been served,so she filed a Petit petition and obtained authorization to prosecute this perv even though the Lyon County Prosecutor in 2002 just let the guy go on a diversion plea.
The real kudos go to Emporia Police for keeping the original evidence for so many years and Assistant US Attorney Christine Kenney for having the spine to ensure justice was finally served.
Posted by create (anonymous) on August 22, 2008 at 4:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Bwooken, Thank you, I appreciate your very detailed report on this case. You're right on where you place the credit too. Thank goodness for EPD file keeping and US Attorney Christine Kenney for guts.
You know, it occurs to me that since research tells us that there is no cure for pedophilia, I don't see how a diversion could ever be considered.
Posted by logical (anonymous) on August 22, 2008 at 6:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
With the anthrax problems, the federal authorities turned the 2001/2 case over to local authorities for prosecution. Federal authorities were looking at federal prison time on the first case. Too bad local prosecution was not willing to take a cut and dry case and convict him instead of letting him off without any consequences.
Posted by slipandslide (anonymous) on August 22, 2008 at 10:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
wow and i always thought the penalties in these cases were severe.
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