Columbia sex offender indicted by federal grand jury on child porn charge
Ryan Shiner
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A Columbia sex offender was indicted in federal court on Tuesday for a child pornography charge, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.
Andrew Charles Nicholls, 38, was charged last month in the Western District Court of Missouri with sending and receiving child pornography. He is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond.
Tuesday’s press release says that Nicholls used a dark web browser to send and keep child porn.
Court documents in previous reporting say the Boone County Sheriff’s Office Cyber Crimes Task Force received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on Jan. 5 about Nicholls uploading multiple child porn files to his Google account.
Google was initially aware of the uploads on Sept. 5, the complaint says. The email on the NCMEC report matched Nicholls’ email on the sex offender registry, as did the phone number, court documents say.
The IP address also allegedly matched a device at Nicholls’ residence, court documents say. Nicholls was arrested for a different charge in March and law enforcement took his cellphone, examined it and found child porn, the complaint says.
He is also charged in Boone County with second-degree kidnapping and his bond was surrendered. He is also charged in Boone County with first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle. He appeared for a hearing on Monday by video from the jail.