Springfield, MO–Two men, one from Missouri and another from West Virginia, were sentenced in federal court for sexually abusing a child.
The sentences resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force.
Ronald Lee Fields, 56, of Joplin, Missouri, and Shannon Calhoun, 33, of Philippi, West Virginia, (formerly of Joplin) were sentenced in separate appearances before U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark. Fields was sentenced to 20 in federal prison without parole. Calhoun was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Fields and Calhoun to each spend the rest of his life on supervised release following incarceration.
Fields and Calhoun had previously pleaded guilty in November 2017 to one count each of the sexual exploitation of a child.
Officers with the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force executed a search warrant at Fields’ residence on July 31, 2017, and seized various electronic devices, including a computer. Images of child pornography were found on those devices, which depicted Fields in a motel room with a child of about five years of age. Some photos depicted Fields and Calhoun sexually abusing the child. The photographs were taken at a variety of locations in Jasper and Newton (Missouri) counties between April 20 and July 21, 2014.
