(From the U. S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri)
Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Lee’s Summit, Mo., youth soccer coach was indicted by a federal grand jury today on eight additional charges related to producing child pornography by secretly videotaping members of his soccer team.
Joel D. White, 41, of Lee’s Summit, was charged in an 11-count superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo. Today’s indictment replaces a three-count indictment that was returned on April 30, 2013, and adds the counts regarding eight additional victims. White has remained in federal custody since his arrest on the original indictment.
White formerly coached a girls under-12 soccer team and a girls under-15 soccer team through the Lee’s Summit Soccer Association. He has been in federal custody since his arrest in April 2013. The Lee’s Summit Soccer Association has cooperated fully with law enforcement officers during this investigation.
Today’s indictment charges White with 11 separate counts of attempting to produce child pornography. White allegedly attempted to use 11 child victims – identified in the indictment as Jane Doe #1 through Jane Doe #11 – to produce child pornography between May 1, 2012 and March 20, 2013.
Under Department of Justice guidelines, the attempted production of child pornography is ordinarily charged in cases that involve surreptitious recordings. The statutory penalties for producing child pornography are the same as the penalties for attempting to produce child pornography. Each of the 11 counts contained in the indictment carries a mandatory minimum sentence upon conviction of 15 years in federal prison without parole.
According to an affidavit filed in support of the original criminal complaint, law enforcement officers in Commerce City, Colo., discovered videos of nude minors on White’s camera. White was at a soccer stadium in Colorado for a World Cup qualifying game when his cameras were seized by law enforcement officers as part of a criminal investigation.
Several videos allegedly depict White positioning a video camera in a bedroom of his residence in such a way that the camera is hidden. Shortly after White leaves the room, the affidavit says, the videos depict several minors, approximately 11 or 12 years old, entering the room and changing their clothes. Minors are fully nude in the videos and do not appear to know they are being videotaped.
Dickinson cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Teresa A. Moore. It was investigated by the Lee’s Summit, Mo., Police Department and the Commerce City, Colo., Police Department.
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