Columbia man arrested on child porn charges
Officers arrested a contributing columnist with the Columbia Daily Tribune on child pornography charges on Thursday.
Scott May, 57, of Columbia remains in the Boone County Jail for felony possession of child pornography.
Court documents said in late May, the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s online investigative unit searched BitTorrent, a file-sharing website, when May’s IP address was flagged for “investigative interest to child pornography.”
Investigators issued a search warrant and recovered 31 files from his computer at 2300 block of Winchester Drive in Columbia. One video and 30 images showed girls between the ages of 12 and 15 in sexually explicit positions.
Documents show May admitted to downloading the files for the past few months about three to four times a week and said he deleted the images as soon as he viewed them and knows it’s wrong and illegal.
Managing Editor Jim Robertson at the Columbia Daily Tribune told ABC 17 May worked as contributing columnist for the newspaper for several years. Robertson said Friday that column will be suspended pending the investigation.
May is being held in the Boone County jail on a $50,000, cash-only bond. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for August 26. If convicted, Prosecuting Attorney Marilee Crockett said May will be required to register as a sex offender.
