KC Reporter

A Gladstone, Missouri man has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for receiving child pornography. Shawn D. Clutts, aged 37, received his sentence from U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs and will serve the term without parole. Following his incarceration, Clutts will be subject to 25 years of supervised release and is ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution along with a $5,000 assessment.

Clutts was classified as a prior sex offender due to an earlier felony conviction involving statutory rape and sodomy related to the abuse of a teenage girl he met online. His arrest in this case occurred approximately one year after completing his state sentence for those charges.

On August 8, 2024, Clutts pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography after being found with images and videos on his cell phone during a traffic stop by the Missouri State Highway Patrol on June 22, 2023. The investigation uncovered 131 videos and 49 images depicting child pornography including sadomasochistic behavior involving infants and toddlers.

Authorities also discovered that Clutts had downloaded hundreds of files through the MEGA application—a file-sharing platform—and engaged in discussions about purchasing child pornography via the Kik application. He admitted to having previously bought such material using MEGA links.

The prosecution was led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth W. Borgnino with the Missouri State Highway Patrol conducting the investigation.

This case forms part of Project Safe Childhood—an initiative started by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at addressing child sexual exploitation nationwide through collaboration among federal, state, and local agencies.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood or Internet safety education resources visit www.usdoj.gov/psc.