Bonner Springs man admits to producing, taking part in, distributing child porn

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (WIBW) - A Bonner Springs man has admitted to producing, taking part in and distributing child pornography in federal court after Google, Snapchat and Dropbox all reported the child sexual abuse.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas says Joshua Courtney, 35, of Bonner Springs, has pleaded guilty to committing sexual acts with a child and taking nude pictures and videos of the child in federal court.

Court documents indicate that Courtney pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a child and four counts of possession of child pornography.

According to court documents, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received cybertips from Google, Snapchat, and Dropbox about child sexual abuse photos and videos within accounts found to belong to Courtney.

Agents also said they found dozens of pornographic images in Courtney’s Google photos - some of which were later identified to be of a 10-year-old child.

Courtney admitted to investigators that he took nude photos of the child, filmed himself while he engaged in sexual acts with the child, and sent those materials to others. He also admitted that he received child pornography of other children on his cell phone.

“The Secret Service is proud of the effective partnerships it maintains with the Kansas Bureau of Investigations, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the United States Attorney’s Office, whose tireless efforts were instrumental in seeing justice served in this case,” Kansas City Field Office Special Agent in Charge Brandon Bridgeforth said. “We can think of no greater outcome than protecting our children from predators such as Joshua Courtney.”

The Office said Courtne now faces a maximum of 30 years in prison for each count of child exploitation and up to 20 years in prison for each count of possession of child pornography. He is scheduled for sentencing on Dec. 1.