KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Clinton, Missouri man has pleaded guilty in federal court to distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Benjamin A. Bowers, 27, of Clinton, pleaded guilty Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple to the charge contained in an April 15, 2015, federal indictment.

By pleading guilty, Bowers admitted that he shared images of child pornography over the Internet using a peer-to-peer file-sharing network.

Law enforcement officers from the Clay County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol were conducting an investigation into peer-to-peer networks that shared child pornography online. In November 2013, they downloaded multiple images of child pornography that were being shared from Bowers’s computer.

Officers with the Clinton Police Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol executed a search warrant at Bowers’s residence on Dec. 10, 2013, and seized several items, including computers and external components. Examiners discovered approximately 7,699 photos and 177 videos that contained child pornography, as well as 3,032 images of child erotica, on his computers and related media. The content includes depictions of toddlers and prepubescent minors.

Under federal statutes, Bowers is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of 20 years in federal prison without parole.

A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.