Park Hills 18-year-old sentenced in child pornography case
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Park Hills resident Nichalas Patrick Perry, 18, was sentenced to 10 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections this week in St. Francois County Court for possession of child pornography. The standard range of punishment for a class B felony is between five and 15 years. Before incarceration, Perry must complete a 120-day sex offender program.
After completing the 120-day program, a report is generated and forwarded to the circuit court for judicial review. The judge must then decide Perry’s future within the corrections system. A couple of outcomes are possible: parole or incarceration. The program report will weigh heavily on the judicial decision, so the program administrators are responsible for ensuring a complete, honest summary of Perry’s program participation.
Perry’s journey through the system for this case began in November 2022 when suspicious activity was reported to the Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). A probable cause statement from the MSHP states information given to investigators included tweets sent by a particular user “frequently soliciting and sharing images of children engaged in sex acts through the Twitter platform. A search of the phone number associated with the Twitter account revealed it is used by Nick Perry in Farmington, Missouri.”
In March 2023, a search warrant was executed at Perry’s home address, and all electronic devices were searched. An iPhone with the number matching that of the user receiving and distributing child pornography named “Nick’s iPhone” was found in Perry’s bedroom. According to the probable cause statement, “numerous videos of children engaged in sex acts were found on Perry’s iPhone.” The videos described in the probable cause statement involved male and female children as young as three and no older than nine. The sexual situations these children were told to be subjected to are heartbreaking and sickening.
The probable cause statement says investigators believed Perry to be a danger to his community because “this investigation involves the suspect viewing prepubescent children engaged in sex acts and offering to trade pornographic pictures. A search of Perry’s cellular telephone revealed numerous videos of him engaged in physical fights, using illegal drugs, and posing with pistols. When the search warrant was conducted at his residence, Perry was in possession of a pistol, and he refused to immediately follow police officer’s commands.”
Because Perry was 17 at the time of the investigation, a juvenile certification hearing was held in Washington County on Thursday, July 27, 2023. On the following Monday, the circuit court certified Perry as an adult. Perry was initially charged with four class B felonies: one count of promoting child pornography and three counts of possession of child pornography. In a plea agreement, all charges were dropped except one charge of possession of child pornography.
Jeannie Northrup is a staff writer for the Daily Journal. She can be reached at jnorthrup@dailyjournalonline.com.