KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A former Kansas City man has been charged in federal court after child pornography was found on the cellphone he carried into a secure area at the U.S. Department of Energy national security campus in Kansas City.
Thirty-nine-year-old Shaun Walker, currently a resident of Springfield, was charged in a criminal complaint filed under seal in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City on March 14 with one count of distributing child pornography, one count of receiving child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. The complaint has been unsealed following Walker’s arrest on Monday. Walker remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing on Thursday.
Walker was employed by Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technology, which is contracted by the Nuclear National Security Administration.
According to an affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, Walker entered an inner secure area of the U.S. Department of Energy National Security Campus in Kansas City with his personal cellphone on Nov. 29, 2021. Walker contacted Kansas City National Security Campus Security to self-report the violation.
Walker gave his cellphone to security personnel, who reviewed it to determine if any classified material was present on the phone. During the review, the affidavit says, a security officer observed numerous images and videos depicting child pornography. Walker’s phone was seized in order to conduct a forensic examination.
Investigators found an encrypted folder on Walker’s cellphone that contained 21 images and a video of a 5-year-old girl who is known to Walker. Investigators found dozens of additional images and videos of child pornography on Walker’s cellphone. Investigators also found thousands of WhatsApp chats between Walker and females he contacted through a livestreaming pornography website. Walker requested photos and videos of nude underage females conducting sexual acts, the affidavit says. As a result of his WhatsApp chats, Walker allegedly received and distributed images and videos of child pornography.
The charges contained in this complaint are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine A. Connelly. It was investigated by the Department of Energy, Office of Inspector General.
Project Safe Childhood
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”
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