A former church youth ministry volunteer from Rolla, Missouri, has admitted to possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material. Bradley Thomas Colvin, 52, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of receipt and distribution of child pornography.
Colvin confessed to searching for, viewing, and downloading child sexual abuse material over several years. He possessed at least 833 videos and 5,566 images containing such material on multiple devices including four computers, a tablet, an external hard drive, and five USB thumb drives.
The investigation began when Colvin distributed child pornography through a peer-to-peer file-sharing program to an officer with the Missouri State Highway Patrol conducting investigations. Following a court-approved search of Colvin’s home, he admitted during a polygraph examination to having touched a minor for sexual gratification years earlier at a pool party celebrating the end of Vacation Bible School.
Colvin is scheduled for sentencing on June 18. The crime carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison. The U.S. Attorney’s Office intends to request a ten-year sentence.
The case was investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Missouri State Technical Assistance Team. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is prosecuting the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. The project aims to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals exploiting children via the Internet while identifying and rescuing victims.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.