Ross Steele
A Platte City man is facing four felony charges, one charge of promoting child pornography and three possession of child pornography.
Ross B. Steele, 57, is currently being detained in the Platte County Detention Center after bond was denied.
The arresting agency was the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the second such arrest of a local resident in as many months. In late June, Dearborn resident Austin Pointer was arrested on similar charges.
On June 15, a member of the MSHP’s division of drug and crime control connected and downloaded a file with a female child that appears to be between 8-10 years old, according to court documents.
A search warrant was granted for the IP address and traced back to Charter Communication with a connection at 16360 NW 134th Court in Platte City.
A search warrant for the house was served on July 25.
A desktop computer was located in the bedroom with several external storage devices.
Three videos were located on the computer, two with children that appear be 8 years old and another that appears to be 12, according to documents.
Steele, who works in Leavenworth, Kan., admitted to downloading adult pornography, but denied downloading child pornography.
The court entered a not guilty plea on his behalf on Monday, July 29. Steele advised he intends to retain Welch and Webb to represent him.
The Platte County Sherriff’s Office and Western Missouri Cyber Crime Task Force assisted in the investigation.
A Linkedin page with his name shows Platte City as his residence and that he is the junior vice commander of the Lansing (Kan.) VFW Post 12003 and quartermaster for the Kansas VFW 1st district.