KENNETT, Mo. — A Malden man made his first appearance in a Dunklin County court Tuesday after he recently was charged with promoting and possessing child pornography.
Earl P. Tibbs was arraigned by Associate Circuit Judge John Spielman on the Class B felony of first-degree promoting child pornography and four Class B felonies of possession of child pornography.
Tibbs, according to court personnel, was ordered to appear again with his attorney on Thursday before Spielman.
The 52-year-old, according to the compliant, is accused of disseminating a file containing obscene material that portrays what appears to be a person under 14 as a participant in sexual conduct on March 30.
Tibbs also is accused of possessing four files containing obscene material depicting sexual conduct and portraying what appears to be a person less than 18 in the conduct on June 13.
The charges stem from an investigation by the members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control and it’s digital forensics investigative unit, with assistance from the Malden Police Department.
On March 30, according to patrol Sgt. Jeremy Weadon’s probable-cause affidavit, he downloaded a 6-minute, 23-second video file that contained two female children, who appear to be about 11 to 14 years old.
Weadon described the children as being scantily clad and dancing in the video, which also depicted them in sexually explicit poses.
Using public records, Weadon said, he determined the IP address was registered to NewWave Communications.
Weadon said information received from NewWave pursuant to an investigative subpoena indicated the IP address belonged to the account holder of “A. Tibbs” and the service address was in the 43300 block of Highway 25 in Malden.
On June 13, Weadon said, a search warrant was executed at Tibbs’ residence.
“A desk computer was located inside the back door of the residence,” said Weadon, who indicated a file-sharing program was “installed and running when investigators arrived.”
Tibbs, who was not home at the time the warrant was executed, was contacted in Malden by investigators, Weadon said.
During an interview with investigators, Weadon said, Tibbs admitted to using the file-sharing program to “download child pornography files from the internet.
“Tibbs has used the term ‘underage’ when searching for child pornography. Tibbs told investigators he thought the youngest child he had seen when looking at child pornography was 10 years old.”
Tibbs, Weadon said, further admitted to “downloading and viewing child pornography for years” and had viewed child pornography the day prior.
During what Weadon described as a “scene preview” of the desktop computer, he found four files depicting child pornography.
The files, Weadon said, ranged in length from six minutes to more than 17 minutes and depicted female children believed to be 12 to 14 years old in sexually explicit conduct.
Tibbs was arrested June 13 and continues to be held in the Dunklin County Justice Center on a $25,000 cash bond.
Dunklin County Prosecuting Attorney Nicholas Jain asked the court to impose conditions on any bond that was set for Tibbs.
In making his request, Jain said, the investigation is ongoing at this time pending “additional forensic examination of (Tibbs’) electronic devices.”
Spielman granted Jain’s request and set six special conditions on Tibbs’ bond. They include having no contact with children under 17 and not being on the premises of any park, school, day care, playground, recreational facility or any other place where children congregate.