Columbia man pleads guilty to producing child pornography, faces 15 years in prison

Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri Tom Larson announced that Justin Hull, 33, pleaded guilty to producing and possessing child pornography on Tuesday.

Hull admitted he used a child victim to produce child pornography in December of 2015, he also admitted that he was in possession of child pornography from December 2014 to December 2015.

A detective in the Boone County Sheriff’s Department Cyber Crimes Task Force received a tip from the CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited children regarding a complaint from Dropbox.

Deputies said Hull had uploaded approximately 71 videos believed to contain child pornography to his Dropbox account.

Hull’s Dropbox records indicated approximately 390 videos had been uploaded between July 2014 and July 2015.

Hull’s cellphone was seized during a search warrant and numerous chats of a sexual nature were discovered.

Deputies said they also found a conversation between Hull and a 16-year-old female where he received pornographic images the girl took of herself.

A total of 478 images depicting child pornography and numerous videos were found on Hull’s phone.

The government will recommend that Hull receives a sentence of 15 years in federal prison without parole.

For more information on Hull, click here.