Sex offender in Bland arrested for having child pornography
One person has been arrested following a child pornography bust in Bland. On Wednesday, Gasconade County deputies and a group from the Missouri Internet Crimes Against Children team carried out a search at a home on West Kansas City Street.
In the home, investigators found a cell phone with around 3,000 images of child porn and child erotica. The owner of that phone, George Patterson, was arrested and taken to the jail in Crawford County on suspicion of receiving child pornography. Prosecutors claim Patterson, 46, uploaded child porn to a Google Plus photos account.
In court documents released Thursday, Patterson reportedly admitted Google would shut down one account for violating its terms and conditions, at which point he would open a new account.
The Gasconade County Sheriff’s Office reports Patterson, a registered sex offender, was also taken to jail on suspicion of failing to comply with state requirements for sex offender registration. Court documents indicate that violation happened when Patterson failed to notify officials of his creating the Google accounts.
Authorities also reported finding a child in the home in what they describe as “deplorable” conditions. As a result, investigators from the state Department of Social Services’ Children’s Division came to the home to evaluate the child’s safety. Gasconade County deputies say they expect charges to be filed against the child’s parents as a result of the living conditions.
Special agents from the FBI assisted in carrying out the search. The ICAC team also brought Bonnie, a K-9 trained to detect the presence of electronic media storage devices. This was Bonnie’s first search operation.
