A Dearborn man is facing a charge of promoting child pornography following an arrest by the Missouri State Highway Patrol last week.
Austin Pointer, 28, was arrested on June 19 and appeared in court the next day where a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf. The case was continued to July 9, where he will appear before judge Quint Shafer.
Austin Pointer
Pointer is currently being held in the Platte County Detention Center in Platte City without bond.
Court documents initially showed four charges against Pointer, the one that he is currently facing from April 28 and three possession of a child pornography on June 19.
The MSHP division of drug and crime control was conducting an online investigation for offenders sharing child pornography. A file was downloaded that showed a female child between the ages of 8 and 10 years old sitting nude in an inner tube.
A search warrant was granted for the internet provided address and tied to a CenturyLink customer in Dearborn. The serving of the warrant came on June 19 in Dearborn at a redacted address, but Pointer has an address in the 400 block of Second Street in Dearborn.
Documents show there were 100s of files that appeared to be child pornography and three video files were reviewed. One was 13 minutes in length and shows a 12-14 year female undressing and dancing. A second was four minutes long and showed an 8-9 year old female, while the third video was 20 minutes in length and showed a female that was 8-9 years old.
Pointer admitted to using file sharing software and the files found were his. He later said he knew the files were illegal and the children were underage, but used them for his own sexual gratification, according to documents.