Columbia sex offender faces federal child porn charge

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A registered sex offender in Columbia has been charged with a federal child porn charge.

Andrew Charles Nicholls, 38, was charged on Tuesday in the Western District Court of Missouri with sending and receiving child pornography. He is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond. A court date has not been announced.

He was also charged in Boone County with first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle. No bond was set in that case and a court date has not been set.

Court documents in his federal case say the Boone County Sheriff’s Office Cyber Crimes Task Force received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on Jan. 5 about Nicholls uploading multiple child porn files to his Google account.

Google was initially aware of the uploads on Sept. 5, the complaint says. The email on the NCMEC report matched Nicholls’ email on the sex offender registry, as did the phone number, court documents say.

The IP address also allegedly matched a device at Nicholls’ residence, court documents say. Nicholls was arrested for a different charge in March and law enforcement took his cellphone, examined it and found child porn, the complaint says.

Nicholls was previously pleaded guilty in 2004 to second-degree child molestation.