Iowa: Sports Editor Faces Child Pornography Charge

By Staff
East Iowa Herald
www.eiherald.co
Nov 13, 2008

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - A Brooklyn man has been charged with distribution of child pornography for allegedly sending child porn images to a minor.

Authorities say 24-year-old Kyle Michael Kirby assumed an identity in September and attempted to distribute a sexually explicit photo of a teenage girl to a teenage boy. The U.S. attorney’s office says Kirby met the boy on the Internet social networking site Facebook.

Kirby made an initial appearance in court on Monday and a detention hearing was held the following day. He was placed on home detention with electronic monitoring.

A trial date has not been set.

Kirby was the sports editor for the Brooklyn Chronicle and the Montezuma Republican newspapers, both owned by the Marengo Publishing Company and the Des Moines Register. Kirby joined MPC in January of 2006. He was suspended from his position shortly after law enforcement officials from Poweshiek and Linn counties executed a search warrant at the Brooklyn Chronicle office. Two computers were confiscated as a result of the warrant. According to the complaint, search warrants were also executed at Kirby’s Brooklyn home and at his parents home in Colesburg.

The case is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa. The Grand Jury indictment states:

“In or about mid-September, 2008, in the Northern District of Iowa, and elsewhere, defendant Kyle Michael Kirby knowingly transported and shipped and attempted to transport and ship, in interstate and foreign commerce, visual depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.”

The criminal complaint alleges that Kirby created the online identity, Josh F., which he used to contact minors. Kirby allegedly posed as a female through that identity soliciting photos from a 14 and a 15-year-old boy.

Additionally, Kirby is alleged to have sent the 14-year-old boy a nude photo of an underaged girl that he had obtained online earlier.

According to MPC Publisher Dan DeBettignies, Kirby is currently suspended without pay from his position at the Chronicle and Republican.

Under the terms of his release pending trial, Kirby is prohibited from using a computer or accessing the Internet. If convicted, he could face five to 20 years in prison and lifetime supervision upon release.

http://www.eiherald.com/artman2/publish/news/Chronicle_sports_editor_faces_child_pornography_charge08446.shtml