Attorney General's News Release

October 26, 2000

Smithville man given 15-year prison sentence in case of harassment, child pornography over the Internet

Liberty, Mo. — A 20-year-old Smithville man who sent threats over the Internet to students and staff at a Massachusetts middle school was sentenced today to 15 years in prison by Clay County Circuit Judge Michael J. Maloney.

Christian Hunold (DOB - 12/10/79) pleaded guilty last month to three felony counts of attempted promotion of child pornography in the first degree and one misdemeanor count of harassment. The charges were prosecuted by Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Donald T. Norris, with the assistance of Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon's High Technology and Computer Crime Unit.

Judge Maloney gave Hunold five years on each felony count, with the sentences to run consecutively. Hunold was taken directly from the courtroom to incarceration. The judge used a Missouri statute that allows him to place Hunold on a 120-day callback, meaning he will review Hunold's case again at that time for possible probation.

The judge said if probation were given after the 120 days in prison, he would place special restrictions on Hunold for a five-year period, including prohibiting him from having a computer with Internet access in his home, prohibiting him from being in a building where there is a computer with Internet access without a responsible adult present, and forbidding him from leaving his home without being accompanied by a responsible adult.

The judge also placed Hunold on two years' probation and gave him a suspended imposition of sentence on the misdemeanor harassment charge.

Hunold was charged with producing, publishing and creating child pornography on the Internet and with using the Internet and telephone to frighten several individuals by threatening to kill them. Representatives of the Attorney General's Office, Smithville police and Massachusetts law enforcement executed a search warrant Oct. 22, 1999 and seized computer hardware and software.

The search warrant was executed after monitoring by the Attorney General's Office, the Massachusetts State Police, and police in Townsend, Mass., indicated that threats against students and staff at a Townsend middle school were originating from a computer in Hunold's home.

Inquiries from consumers should be directed to consumer@ago.mo.gov or 1-800-392-8222 (from within Missouri) or 573-751-3321 (outside Missouri).

All media inquiries should be directed to Press Secretary John Fougere.

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