Kansas City sex offender on parole facing new child pornography charges, authorities say "thousands" of images found
A convicted sex offender out of Phelps County, Missouri, is facing new child pornography charges after "thousands" of images were reportedly found in his Kansas City home.
Officials with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri announced new charges Friday against 43-year-old Michael D. Shimon.
According to a news release from federal authorities, Dropbox, Inc., a data transfer and storage company, submitted a cyber tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The tip was regarding a video the company flagged after it was uploaded to a Dropbox application associated with Shimon.
Weeks later, an acquaintance of Shimon contacted authorities to say he had seen possible images resembling child pornography on one of Shimon's electronic devices.
Investigators with the FBI served a federal search warrant at Shimon's home on Thursday, seizing multiple electronic devices. Investigators reportedly located "thousands of images of child pornography" in their search of those devices.
Attorneys said Shimon was previously convicted of first-degree promoting child pornography and two counts of possession of child pornography in Phelps County, Missouri. Shimon was sentenced to spend 12 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections in February 2017. He was released on parole in 2021 and is currently a registered sex offender.
Shimon made his first appearance in court Friday afternoon. Authorities said this case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a May 2006 initiative by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
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