Attorney General's News Release

December 15, 2010

Attorney General Koster announces guilty plea in child pornography case

Jefferson City, Mo. -- Attorney General Chris Koster said Nathan Kaplan pleaded guilty Monday to two felony counts of possession of child pornography. The guilty pleas were entered before Judge Russell Steele in Adair County.

Koster said Kaplan, 25, is a former college student at Kirksville and now resides in Columbia. He said Kaplan was questioned in February 2009 following a tip that he might be downloading child pornography onto his laptop. Kaplan admitted to downloading a video of the sexual abuse of a female child onto his laptop and surrendered to local law enforcement two additional hard drives. Forensic examination of the computers revealed additional pornographic videos with minor children.

The Attorney General's High-Tech Crime Unit and the Kirksville Police Department's Regional Computer Crimes Unit investigated the case.

Kaplan will be sentenced February 16, 2011. He faces up to 15 years in prison on each count.