U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. has sentenced Thomas O. Stroud Jr., a registered sex offender, to 130 months in prison for possessing child pornography. The sentencing took place on Tuesday in Cape Girardeau.
Stroud, aged 43 and from Wappapello, Missouri, had pleaded guilty in November to the charges in U.S. District Court. He has a previous federal conviction for possessing child pornography dating back to 2009. After his release from federal prison, he was required to register as a sex offender and was placed on a 40-year term of supervised release.
In March 2024, while serving this term of supervised release, Stroud's probation officer discovered that he had been using a cell phone to communicate with someone in Indiana and obtained several images of child pornography during these communications.
Following the completion of his 130-month sentence, Stroud will again be subject to supervised release.
The investigation into this case was conducted by the U.S. Probation Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Koester prosecuted the case.