Gainesville man is sentenced to 70 years in federal prison for producing child porn

Tracy “Todd” Presson, a Gainesville man who reportedly produced child pornography images and videos at his Gainesville home, was recently sentenced to 840 months, or 70 years, in federal prison and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine during a March 26 hearing before Judge Stephen R. Bough in federal court in Springfield.

In addition to the $50,000 fine, Presson is also ordered to also pay $10,000 to the Justice Victims of Trafficking Act, an organization that uses fines from human trafficking and child pornography cases to provide programs that assist trafficking victims and provide services for victims of child pornography. 

Although Presson would be more than 120 years old if he serves the full sentence before him, the federal court document specifically details that if Presson is released at any time, he will be required to be supervised for the remainder of his life.  

 

Pleading guilty, then trying to retract those pleas

According to the online court record, Presson had recently filed two documents asking the court to allow him to retract his formerly made guilty plea to two charges of sexual exploitation of a minor. 

During the March 26 hearing, the judge denied Presson’s motion to withdraw the guilty pleas and a motion to squash a subpoena in the case, and sentenced the man, despite the defense attorney’s objection. 

Federal court records show that Presson filed the first “motion to withdraw his plea of guilty” while acting pro se, meaning as his own attorney. 

In that document, Presson writes that he’s filing the motion to withdraw his guilty plea due to “ineffective assistance of counsel and federal prosecutor intimidation.” 

 

Reasons for the request to withdraw

Presson penned a document that made these arguments: 

“1. The first and most important reason I wish to change my plea to not guilty is because I am innocent. I can prove it if I get a chance to present my evidence at trial with competent counsel.

“2. I have waited almost two years for trial. We were seven days from the trial date, and my attorney had not yet prepared me for my appearance, nor did she explain any of her defense strategy.

“3. My attorney failed to follow my instructions regarding a motion to suppress.

“4. My attorney told me that the federal prosecutor received a call from my ex-wife’s counsel stating that my ex-wife would like the 5th amendment; and therefore would not be required to answer any questions under oath at trial. Further, she was told, the jury would not be able to hear her refusals to answer on the 5th amendment grounds. This is not a true statement.”

“5. My attorney told me that since my ex-wife intended to take the 5th amendment that none of my other witnesses would be allowed to testify. This is also not true.

“6. My attorney told me that the Rape Shield Law prevented me from questioning the alleged victim. This is not true. I am permitted to question her about the alleged abuse.

“7. My attorney said that I had no defense and coerced me into taking a plea deal.

“8. I met with my attorney a few days after I had accepted the plea deal and I told her I wanted to withdraw my plea. She told me that the jury would be informed of my having pleaded guilty and that I would be ‘committing suicide by trial.’ She advised me not to change my plea because if I did she would no longer be able to represent me. Federal Rule of Evidence 401(1) prevents previous guilty pleas from being used at trial.

“9. My attorney told me she had a lot of federal trial experience when in fact this would have been her first trial.

“10. I was mislead [sic], misinformed and coerced into pleading guilty and was told I had no defense. I was under extreme pressure and I felt that I had no choice. I tried to change my plea within the 14-day period following my acceptance of the plea deal and again my attorney threatened me not only with quitting my case, but that ‘it would be suicide.’ This is clearly a violation of my 6th Amendment Right To Due Process.

“11. The Federal Prosecutor has threatened to have the State Prosecutor refile the State charges against me, which were dropped last year if I do prevail in the Federal trial. I would still be in jail fighting that case too. See ‘Dobbins v. State…’ If a defendant is mislead [sic] or induced to enter a plea of guilty by fraud, mistake, misapprehension, coercion, duress or fear, then the Defendant should be permitted to withdraw the plea.

“In the interest of Justice, I am respectfully requesting this Honorable Court to allow me to withdraw my guilty plea and to assign my case to a private pro bono attorney.”

The second document, filed Oct. 20, 2020, reiterated much of the same information as the first document but  asked to refile the motion because Presson had retained counsel: “…Because this Court does not usually rule on pro se motions when a Defendant is represented by counsel, the undersigned adopts Defendant’s pro se motion.”

 

Two Jane Does

Although the original Ozark County Sheriff’s Department officers involved with the case say that dozens of children were involved, the federal case focused on two girls in particular, identified as 16-year-old Jane Doe #1 and Jane Doe #2 in federal court documents. The age for Jane Doe #2 was not listed in the documents. 

In addition to producing images and videos of the underage girls, Jane Doe #1 reportedly told Ozark County Sheriff’s Deputy Kyle Hannaford and a Missouri Division of Family Services investigator in an October 2018 interview that Presson often engaged in sexual conduct with her and photographed and videoed the sexual acts. She reportedly told the interviewers that she’d been abused for at least five years at that point, from the time she was 11 years old. Jane Doe #1 said the sexual activity happened at Presson’s home in Gainesville as well as across the country when she traveled with him, early court documents detailed. 

She also said he often used FaceTime to coerce her to engage in sexual acts, which he viewed through the cell phone app. 

 

Evidence leading to the case

Court documents filed in a state case, which was dismissed when the case transitioned to federal, and in the federal case say that on Oct. 3, 2018, former Ozark County Sheriff’s Deputy Cpl. Curtis Dobbs applied for a search warrant on Presson’s residence at 414 Tiki Trail in Gainesville. The warrant was granted by Cynthia MacPherson, who was Ozark County associate circuit judge at that time. 

A team of investigators with OCSD, Southwest Cyber Crimes Task Force and the Department of Homeland Security executed the search warrant on the residence the same day. Officers reportedly confiscated numerous devices from the Gainesville home that were used in the production of the child pornography. 

A court document listing the proposed evidence that would have been presented at trial indicates that officers seized five laptop computers, nine cell phones, six digital cameras, two digital video cameras, eight flash drives, three SD cards, two tablets, an external hard drive, two “HI-8” tapes, an optical drive and a Go-Pro video camera. 

An aluminum brief case was also found that contained several items, including three additional SD cards, one that reportedly held 165 images and 68 videos depicting Jane Doe #1 engaged in sexual activity.

Cell phones from both Jane Doe #1 and Jane Doe #2 were also reportedly confiscated as evidence. 

Other interesting items listed on the proposed evidence list seem to show that Todd Presson had been using an alias. The federal documents say that Presson’s wife, Kristie Presson, who has since filed for divorce, provided Dobbs with several documents on Oct. 11, 2018. They included an Indiana ID issued to Tom E. Adkins with a photo of Todd Presson, a Social Security card issued to Tom Edward Adkins, a personal check from the Farm Bureau Credit Union of Gosen, Indiana, issued to Tom Adkins, a prescription drug plan card issued to Tom Adkins and a St. Joseph County, Indiana, Health Department record of birth for Tom Edward Adkins.

Dozens of sexual toys and pornographic DVDs were also confiscated, along with a sexual suspension device that was removed from a free-standing building behind the couple’s home. 

Other items found in the building included three unmarked firearm silencers and a portable reciprocating saw. 

Notebook papers, assumed to have been written by Presson, were later found in his jail cell on Nov. 15, 2018, titled “My story,” “Reason I killed myself,” and “Confession.”

 

A winding road to justice

After officers executed the search warrant on Oct. 3, 2018, Presson was charged in Ozark County Court with 10 felony counts, including statutory rape, statutory sodomy, possession of child pornography, possession of child pornography videos and use of a child in a sexual performance. 

Former Ozark County Sheriff Darrin Reed issued a press release detailing the evidence found at the Presson home that day, and Presson’s attorney filed a motion for a gag order in the case. As part of the order, Reed and all other sheriff’s department personnel would be prohibited from speaking about the case or the evidence in the case. Ozark County Prosecuting Attorney John Garrabrant agreed to have the state and law enforcement officers comply with the order. 

The FBI became involved at some point, and the case was brought before a federal grand jury, which indicted Presson on the charges on Nov. 8, 2018. In response to the federal case filing, the local case was dismissed. 

The case has gone through an extensive history since that time, and many hearings and trials were rescheduled. 

Presson went through six criminal defense attorneys during the federal case’s history. He was most recently represented by Erica Mynarich of Carver, Cantin and Mynarich of Springfield. 

Ozark County Times

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