St. Francois County Man Admits Having Child Pornography

St. Francois Co., Mo. (KFMO) - A 20 year prison sentence is being recommended for 39-year-old Shane Elijah Bottom, of Bismarck, after he admitted to possession of child pornography as a prior offender.

Bottom is a registered sex offender and pled guilty after being caught by investigators with the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control, who were conducting an online investigation of those sharing child sexual abuse material.

According to court documents, Bottom distributed numerous files containing the material to investigators via a peer to peer file sharing program November 19 and 20, 2023. After the files were traced to Bottom, he eventually admitted downloading and viewing the images. At least 904 pictures were found on Bottom’s phone by an agent with the U.S. Secret Service. Of those, 373 images depicted the sexual abuse of minors who have been identified by law enforcement and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

In 2016, Bottom was convicted on two counts of child molestation in the first degree for the sexual abuse of a 7-year-old, in Johnson County Missouri Circuit Court. He was sentenced to eight years in prison in connection to that case.