GLADSTONE, Mo. — Federal authorities arrested and charged a 73-year-old Gladstone man on Friday, accusing him of producing child porn and trying to arrange the abuse of a neighborhood girl.
A federal grand jury indicted Barry Darlington last week. Investigators say they have evidence that Darlington used a minor child to produce child pornography over a three-year period from June 2001 until May 2004.
The federal indictment alleges that Darlington then began distributing the porn over the Internet in September 2005.
The government asked that Darlington be held without bail, saying he has a continuing sexual interest in children. The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Western District of Missouri said Darlington admitted in online chats that he had been ogling a young neighbor girl and tried to arrange for her to spend the night at his house.
In those chats, Darlington reportedly said he loves to go to malls and look at ‘young folks’ and that he ‘checks out kids’ when he’s at the grocery store.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katharine Fincham and was investigated by the Gladstone, Mo. Police Dept. and the Western Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force.
