Federal Employee Charged with Possessing Child Pornography

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - An employee of the federal government has been charged with possession of child pornography.

Joshua E. Peccia, 46, of Lee's Summit, Mo., was charged in a criminal complaint filed under seal in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., on Tuesday, Nov. 5. The complaint was unsealed and made public today following Peccia's arrest and initial court appearance. Peccia remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing on Wednesday, Nov. 13.

Peccia is employed as an operations support specialist in the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The federal criminal complaint charges Peccia with one count of possession of child pornography.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Peccia uploaded eight videos of child pornography to the Verizon Cloud on Dec. 19, 2023. Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Peccia's residence and seized cell phones, computers, external hard drives, digital cameras, and USB media storage devices. Investigators found 630 videos of apparent child sexual abuse material on Peccia's cell phone, along with 1,600 potential images and videos of child sexual abuse material.

The charge contained in this complaint is simply an accusation, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charge must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maureen A. Brackett. It was investigated by the Lee's Summit, Missouri Police Department and U.S. Secret Service.

Project Safe Childhood

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."