Bollinger County man arrested on multiple counts of child pornography

BOLLINGER COUNTY, Mo. (KBSI) – A Sedgwickville man faces multiple counts of child pornography.

Justin Welker faces five counts of possession of child pornography – Class D felony and five counts of possession of child pornography film/video – Class B felony.

In early December, the Bollinger County Sheriff’s Office received information from the FBI in reference to a report of attempted child molestation.

Police say that Welker of Sedgwickville, Missouri tried to arrange the travel of an out of state person to Bollinger County for the performance of sexual acts on a child.

After receiving that information, Justin was located and his cell phone was seized as evidence. After the device was seized, a search warrant was obtained for the device.

On February 8, the results for the cell phone collected from Justin were provided to the Bollinger County Sheriff’s Office. The results included, but were not limited to, an abundance of child pornography images, according to Bollinger County Sheriff Casey A. Graham.

After obtaining that information, a warrant for Welker’s arrest in reference to the child pornography images was issued on February 9. In addition to the arrest warrant issued, a search warrant was also obtained by the Bollinger County Sheriff’s Office for Justin’s home in Sedgewickville.
Officials with the Bollinger County Sheriff’s Office collected multiple additional items as evidence in reference to this investigation.
Then, on February 14, the Bollinger County Sheriff’s Office received additional information from the FBI in reference to additional evidence located on a social media communications account belonging to Welker.
After that information was received, it was forwarded to the Bollinger County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office at which time Justin’s arrest warrant was amended to reflect the additional criminal charges.
Welker’s bond is set at $100,000 cash only.
He was taken to the Bollinger County Jail.
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