Ex Missouri trooper sentenced in child pornography case

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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) _ A former Missouri state trooper was sentenced to seven years in federal prison without parole for transmitting sexually explicit photos of a teenage victim.

Forty-seven-year-old Justin Watson of Mountain View also was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years of supervised release following incarceration.

Watson pleaded guilty in May 2018 to receiving and distributing child pornography. He admitted he took sexually explicit photos of a 17-year-old juvenile on the victim’s iPhone and transmitted the images to his own cell phone.

Watson has been charged in Howell County with four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of sexual contact with a student.

He was a patrol trooper from 1995 until he was dismissed in October 2017. He also was a high school baseball umpire in the Mountain View-Birch Tree School District.

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