A Springfield man faces federal charges after he entered a National Security location — as a contract employee — and handed his personal cell phone to security personnel who allegedly discovered child pornography on it, according to as press release from the office Teresa A. Moore, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
The release states defendant Shaun Walker, 39, lives in Springfield and formerly resided in Kansas City.
Walker was employed by Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies LLC on Nov. 29, when he entered an “inner secure area” of the U.S. Department of Energy National Security Campus in Kansas City with his personal cell phone, according to the press release.
He gave the phone to security personnel, who reviewed it to see if any classified material was on it.
The press release states a security officer observed images and videos of child pornography on the phone.
The phone was seized for a forensic examination.
According to the press release, investigators found an encrypted folder with 21 images and a video of a 5-year-old girl known to Walker. Investigators also found dozens of additional images and videos of child pornography on Walker’s cell phone, the release states.
Investigators found thousands of WhatsApp chats between Walker and females he contacted through a livestreaming pornography website, according to the press release; Walker allegedly requested photos and videos of nude underage females conducting sexual acts.
Walker allegedly received and distributed images and videos of child pornography.
He was charged in a complaint filed under seal in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., on March 14, with one count of distributing child pornography, one count of receiving child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography.
The complaint was unsealed after Walker’s March 21 arrest. He remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing March 24.
