A Springfield, Mo., man who used fake online identities has been indicted by a federal grand jury for attempting to produce child pornography.
Genard Alonzo Toney, 36, of Springfield, was charged in a two-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017. Toney was arrested yesterday and remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing on Monday, Dec. 18, 2017.
The federal indictment alleges that Toney attempted to use a minor, identified as John Doe, to produce child pornography. The indictment also alleges that Toney received and distributed child pornography from May 9, 2016, to March 31, 2017.
According to court documents, Toney engaged in a pattern of soliciting images of child pornography through the Internet. Toney pretended to be a female seeking a female relationship on a dating website, then began texting with women he met on the dating website. Toney used a cell phone application, which provided him with a fake, anonymous cell phone number, cloaking his own number from identification. A forensic examination on devices seized from Toney by law enforcement officers revealed 283 separate conversations, consisting of 13,676 messages, and images of child pornography.
Toney also engaged in conversations where he pretended to be a woman with a 5-year-old daughter, according to court documents. Toney sent images of female children to others and solicited images of the other users’ children. In other conversations, Toney pretended to have a 4-to-6-year-old son and sent images of a child to other users, asking them to also send him pictures of their sons.
Larson cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, the Greene County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department and the FBI.
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