A Jefferson City man now faces federal charges in connection with a child pornography case.
A federal grand jury has indicted Dana Cline, 51, with one count of receipt of child pornography, one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Thursday.
Due to the possibility of stiffer punishments, federal officials said, typically in cases such as this one the county prosecutor's office would dismiss the state charges, which was done Monday in Cline's case. The federal prosecutor then files a charge in the case.
If found guilty on the receipt and distribution charges, Cline could face a minimum of five years, up to a maximum of 20 years, in federal prison. If found guilty on the possession charge, he could get up to 10 years in federal prison.
He was arrested on multiple local child pornography charges.
Authorities served a search warrant at Cline's home in June, according to a Missouri Highway Patrol probable cause statement. He declined to speak with officers and was taken into custody.
A laptop computer was found in Cline's room, and file-sharing software was found on the computer. Investigators said they determined the files contained child pornography.
They reviewed five of what they said were hundreds of files on the computer, in which they found videos ranging from one to four minutes in length. They featured juvenile girls, ages 5-9, involved in various sexual acts.
As of Thursday, Cline was in federal custody and being held without bail until his trial.