Sex offender charged with several counts of having child porn

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A registered sex offender in Morgan County was charged with several felonies on Thursday.

Ryan Berve, 46, of Versailles, was charged with three counts of possessing child pornography and one count of failing to register as a sex offender. He is being held at the Morgan County Jail without bond. An arraignment is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 8.

The probable cause statement says that law enforcement received a tip on Feb. 25 about an incident on Feb. 18 from an IP address associated with a wireless device allegedly associated with Berve.

Berve allegedly stated online that he had access, and was attracted to several children, court documents say. He also allegedly detailed a possible sexual assault, the statement indicates. It was later learned that he did not have access to children, but he allegedly admitted to viewing child porn to authorities, the statement says.

Law enforcement executed a search warrant this week and discovered several images and videos depicting child porn on an account, the statement says. Some of the images were created using artificial intelligence, according to the statement.