CAPE GIRARDEAU -- A Sikeston man pled guilty Monday to a felony child pornography charge before U.S. District Judge Charles A. Shaw.
Thomas O. Stroud Jr., 27, of Sikeston entered a plea of guilty to one felony count of possession of child pornography. Stroud now faces a maximum of 10 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine, followed by a life-time period of supervised release.
With his plea, Stroud admitted that he rented a laptop computer from Aaron's in Sikeston and downloaded child pornography onto the computer. Forensic analysis of the hard drive revealed that Stroud possessed more than 600 image files (including more than 90 video files) of child pornography, that is images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Sentencing is set for May 18 in Cape Girardeau.