Federal court briefs 10/8/03

California man sentenced on meth-related charge

~ Southeast Missourian

Jerry D. Gear, 51, of Bakersfield, Calif., was sentenced in federal court Tuesday to 57 months in prison for unlawful possession of psuedoephedrine.

On Oct. 1, 2001, Gear and another individual were seen buying the pills at the Wal-Mart Superstore in Cape Girardeau. Shortly afterward, the men wre stopped for a traffic violation. A search of the vehicle turned up 14.46 grams of pure pseudoephedrine and items associated with the manufacture of methamphetamine.

Gear admitted the pseudoephedrine were to be provided to another person to make the illicit drug. Upon release, he will be placed on supervised release for three years.

Poplar Bluff man pleads guilty to child porn

Southeast Missourian

Eric A. Hartley, 39, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to one felony count of transporting child pornography.

On March 3, a detective for the Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Unit of the Keen, N.H., Police Department, was posing online as a 14-year-old boy. The detective had contact with Hartley in an Internet chat room. During their conversation, Hartley engaged in sexually explicit conversation, solicited, promoted and published known child pornography over the Internet to the detective, prosecutors said.

On March 14, a search warrant served at the defendant's home turned up a computer and several disks containing the photos that Hartley had transmitted on March 3. An analysis by the FBI confirmed the presence of several more child pornographic images and videos on his computer.

Hartley faces up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing was set for Jan. 6.