Greene County Sheriff’s deputy fired, charged with child porn

Greene County Sheriff’s Deputy Juan Jones was fired and arrested this week over charges of possessing child pornography.

The 27-year-old was charged yesterday in a federal complaint and is being held in custody pending a Jan. 11 detention hearing, according to a news release from the office of Tammy Dickinson, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

After being notified Jan. 5 of the investigation by the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott fired and personally arrested Jones yesterday morning. Jones was an employee with the sheriff’s office since September 2013.

"I am highly disappointed in the decisions Mr. Jones has made and the choice to engage in this horrific conduct,” Arnott said in a separate release.

According to the release from Dickinson’s office, the federal complaint alleges Jones possessed child porn between Aug. 21, 2015, and Jan. 6.

Online file-hosting service Dropbox Inc. filed a tip with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children related to an account traced back to Jones.

A search warrant executed on the Dropbox account found 168 video files and roughly 1,500 images of child porn, with some of the media depicting children as young as infants being sexually abused by adult males, according to the release.