A Missouri man who is a registered sex offender has been convicted of receiving child pornography on his cell phone following a bench trial yesterday.
Billy Puckett, 39, Collins, was found guilty of one count of receiving child pornography following a bench trial before U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool on Monday, June 5. Puckett has been detained in federal custody without bail since his arrest on the federal indictment.
Puckett, a registered sex offender, has two prior felony convictions for statutory rape and a prior felony conviction for statutory sodomy.
A Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper initiated a traffic stop near the intersection of Highway 13 and East 316 Road in Bolivar, Mo., on Aug. 28, 2020. The trooper, who learned that Puckett was a registered sex offender, searched Puckett’s vehicle and found a cell phone plugged into a cigarette lighter. When the phone’s screen activated, the trooper noticed Puckett had Facebook and Snapchat applications on the phone, which were not authorized due to Puckett’s status as a registered sex offender. The trooper seized Puckett’s phone, on which he located multiple images of child pornography, and Puckett was arrested.
Investigators conducted a forensic examination of Puckett’s phone and found hundreds of images of child pornography.
Under federal statutes, Puckett is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of 40 years in federal prison without parole. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
