Jefferson City man charged with possessing and promoting child porn

The Missouri State Highway Patrol arrested a Jefferson City man Thursday after finding hundreds electronic files of child pornography in his home.

Ben Hilkemeyer, 32, was charged Friday with two counts of promoting child pornography and five counts of possession of child pornography.

Court documents state the Highway Patrol began investigating an online file sharing network for offenders sharing child porn in January.

Investigators were able to confirm an IP address downloading the files on two separate occasions belonged to Hilkemeyer.

Troopers served a search warrant at Hilkemeyer’s home on West Ashley Street on Thursday where authorities found several computers and USB drives with electronic files of child pornography. According to a probable cause statement, Hilkemeyer admitted he used his computer to download the child porn files from the internet.

He’s being held in the Cole County jail on a $75,000 bond.