October 21st 2009

Man admits to posing as a woman on Facebook, soliciting nude photos of boys

A Shawnee, Kansas man who worked for the Olathe School District, the Jewish Community Center and coached boys’ sports teams has pleaded guilty late yesterday afternoon to producing child pornography.

Michael T. Cowley, 38, posed as a 19-year-old woman on Facebook to persuade boys to send him nude photos or pictures of them engaging in sex, federal prosecutors said today.

For those, he traded a nude picture of a girl that he got off the internet, prosecutors said.

Cowley pleaded guilty to one count; three other counts were dismissed. A federal judge in Kansas City, Kansas, could sentence him later from 15 to 30 years in prison and fine him up to $250,000.

Cowley drove a bus route for the California Trail Junior High School in Olathe and worked for the community center as director of a summer sports camp for first- through sixth-grade boys and girls, prosecutors said. He also taught a computer class at Bentwood Elementary School in Overland Park and coached boys’ baseball and basketball teams, they said.

His Facebook page called “Ashley” listed 696 friends that included children on teams Cowley coached and children who had contact with him, prosecutors said. Eleven children reported getting nude images from “Ashley” and seven boys reported sending nude images of themselves to the site, prosecutors said.

A search warrant of his home found hundreds of images that include photos of nude boys and girls and of minors engaging in sex, they said.

The investigation began this February, they said, when the Johnson County Sheriff’s office got a report from police in Vancouver, Washington, that a 13-year-old male had exchanged nude photos with a Facebook user in Overland Park who claimed to be 19-year-old “Ashley.”

The electronic trail led to an account held by Cowley in Shawnee, prosecutors said.

SOURCES:

http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/1521163.html

http://www.kmbc.com/news/21360880/detail.html