A former Springfield YMCA employee pleaded guilty in federal court today to receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet.
Benjamin Goodwin, 28, of Springfield, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge James C. England to the charge contained in an Aug. 15, 2017, federal indictment. Goodwin has been in federal custody since his arrest and remains in federal custody pending his sentencing hearing.
Goodwin, an employee of the Springfield YMCA at the time of the offense, admitted that he received and distributed child pornography over the Internet between June 11, 2016, and Aug. 3, 2017.
According to court documents, Goodwin initially came to the attention of law enforcement after the administrators of Chatstep submitted a Cybertipline Report regarding his use of its services to post images depicting child pornography. During the course of another investigation, an individual told investigators that he and Goodwin had been trading images depicting child pornography.
On Aug. 3, 2017, investigators contacted Goodwin outside his place of employment, the Springfield YMCA. Goodwin admitted that he had sent approximately 25 images depicting child pornography to the other individual and had received approximately the same number in return.
Under federal statutes, Goodwin is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of 20 years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Southwest Missouri Cybercrimes Task Force.
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