Park Hills Man Arrested on Child Porn Charges

(PARK HILLS, MO) - A Park Hills man, 40 year old Shaun Braswell, is charged with Felony B promoting child pornography in the first degree after an investigation involving the Missouri State Highway Patrol with assistance from the St. Francois County Sheriff's Department. Braswell, who is an Information Technology employee at Mineral Area College, and a local boy scout leader, is currently in the St. Francois County Jail on a $50,000 bond.  According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol Probable Cause Statement obtained by KFMO/B104, a search warrant was served on Wednesday at an address that has been redacted on the statement.  

The statement says Braswell was contacted and voluntarily came to the Highway Patrol Service Center in Park Hills, where he agreed to be interviewed by investigators.  Troopers say Braswell admitted in an interview to downloading and using file sharing software on his computer.  He said the software was used by him to download and view pornography from the internet.  He would then delete the pornography after he viewed it.  Braswell said he was the only person who utilized the laptop and it was password protected. The file in question apparently contained 21 screenshot images from a video file of a little girl about 6-8 years of age.  Throughout the images she is in various states of undress, including no clothes at all.

Braswell's home was searched and his home internet router showed that his laptop was the only device that connected to the suspected file sharing network.  If Braswell is able to post bail, he will not be allowed to be near children, and will be required to wear a GPS device.

Mineral Area College has released a statement regarding Braswell that reads: "Mineral Area College is cooperating with law enforcement as they investigate charges filed against one of our employees, Shaun Braswell. We have no indication that college networks were used for any of the activities related to this situation. Braswell has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation."

A court date has not yet been set.  KFMO / B104 will have more information on this story as it becomes available.