A Jefferson City man was sentenced to five years in prison for child pornography charges this week.
Murphy Kemplin, 60, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and first-degree promoting child pornography in December. Both charges carry concurrent sentencing and credit for 339 days served.
The Boone County Sheriff's Department Cyber Crimes Task Force received a tip in July 2021 from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, court documents show. The report was from Yahoo, a mandated reporter, which had reportedly located several emails being sent and received of apparent child sexual abuse material associated with one of their account holders.
Authorities obtained a search warrant and reviewed the emails on the account dated March 14, 2021. On that date, authorities allege Kemplin sent 11 images to another Yahoo account of underage females engaging in sexual acts.
Authorities went to Kemplin's home in the 6900 block of Windmill Lane to serve a search warrant in April. Kemplin reportedly told them he owned several email accounts including a Yahoo account. Kemplin also allegedly admitted to sending and receiving files with numerous individuals.
A forensic examiner with the task force reportedly located a link that contained more than 20 still images of underage females engaged in sexual acts, which was accessible to Kemplin's accounts.
Authorities said Kemplin had been reported by several other online providers over the previous seven months for using their platforms to seek those files. He also allegedly admitted to being attracted to children 10 to 15 years old.