Missouri man sentenced to more than 7 years after pleading guilty to child pornography charges

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A southwestern Missouri man was sentenced in federal court Tuesday to seven years and three months for receiving and distributing child pornography via the Internet.

This sentence resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Kalif Hickey, 33, of Springfield, Missouri, was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison without parole.

Hickey pleaded guilty Sept. 10, 2014 to receiving and distributing child pornography via the Internet. He admitted committing this crime between Nov. 17, 2011 and Jan. 1, 2012. According to court documents, Hickey used a peer-to-peer file-sharing program to send and receive child pornography. Law enforcement officers searched and seized Hickey’s computer, which contained 98 videos depicting child pornography.

Hickey must also forfeit to the government a desktop computer, two laptop computers, five computer hard drives, two MP3 players, and nearly 700 CD-R writable disks, all of which were used to commit this offense.

This investigation was conducted under HSI's Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 12,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2014, more than 2,000 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI's Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.

HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.