A Crocker man faces three felony offenses in connection with the discovery of child pornography and new evidence allegedly substantiating past sex crime accusations, according to the case’s probable cause statement.
Daniel J. Gaines, born 1985, is charged in a June 3 warrant with two felony counts of possession of child pornography. A separate June 3 warrant also charges Gaines with one felony count of statutory sodomy. The bond for each case was set at $100,000 and $250,000, respectively.
An investigation into Gaines’ social media activity by the South Central Missouri Computer Crimes Task Force was launched stemming from a referral from a social media company indicating a user account tied to Gaines was sharing suspected child pornography, according to the case’s probable cause statement. The statement says investigation obtained evidence alleging Gaines, under the username “evilness_420,” had uploaded and shared videos of child pornography. Posts made by Gaines to other users were also found in which Gaines claims to have sexually assaulted a child. The statement says the details of the posts were similar to a 2013 case of alleged child sex crimes for which Gaines was investigated but not convicted.
The statement says the execution of a search warrant of Gaines cellphone found no less than 50 files of child pornography. During an interview with investigators, the statement quotes Gaines to say he’d downloaded the child pornography to report it to the social media company but he could provide any evidence of submitting such reports. Gaines also said his posts claiming to have sexually assaulted a child were fantasy in nature and likewise made in hopes of reporting the content to the social media company.
During an interview with the child victim from the 2013 case the statement says the details of their allegations contained the same details as the posts made by Gaines claiming to have sexually assaulted a child.
The charges described above are merely an accusation and are not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charge must be presented before a court of competent jurisdiction whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.
