Former Springfield architect Michel pleads guilty to child porn charges

Former Springfield architect Jarod Michel pleaded guilty Friday to receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet.

The 32-year-old Michel, who resigned from his role as vice president of architecture firm Bates & Associates Inc. the day before charges were filed last year, admitted he engaged in the acts between July 18, 2013, and May 20, 2014. He was indicted Sept. 30, according to a news release from the office of Tammy Dickinson, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

Court documents indicate two separate law enforcement agencies conducting independent undercover investigations identified Michel’s home computer was distributing child pornography using peer-to-peer file-sharing software. Investigators downloaded several videos shared online by Michel’s computer. Investigators then executed a search warrant on his residence and seized his laptop, which contained 21 videos depicting children as young as 2 years old engaged in sexual acts with adults, according to the release.

Under federal statutes, Michel, who went by the alias Bull, faces a mandatory five years in federal prison without parole, a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled following the presentence investigation, according to Dickinson’s office.

A statement issued by Bates & Associates to Springfield Business Journal in October indicated no illegal activity took place on Michel’s work computer.

"Even though the allegations are unrelated to his work here, we immediately conducted a thorough internal audit of all our computer devices. The audit came back clean. Our goal is to provide a safe and secure work environment for all our employees," the statement read.

Michel joined Bates & Associates in 2006 after receiving a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Drury University. Part of SBJ’s 2012 group of 40 Under 40 honorees and a member of the 2010 class of Leadership Springfield, Michel also served on the boards of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Ozarks and Ozark Trails Council for the Springfield Boy Scouts and was a charter member of Springfield’s Metro Rotary and a founding member of the Springfield Business Works networking group, according to SBJ archives.