(News release) – A former St. Joseph, Mo., Boy Scout leader has been charged in federal court with distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Michael R. Goeller, 45, of St. Joseph, was charged in a criminal complaint filed under seal in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2017. The complaint was unsealed and made public following Goeller’s arrest on Monday, Sept. 25, 2017. Goeller remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, the investigation began on Feb. 15, 2017, when a law enforcement officer in Arkansas downloaded a video file that contained child pornography through a peer-to-peer file-sharing network that was later linked to Goeller’s computer.

On Sept. 20, 2017, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Goeller’s apartment and seized a laptop computer and other digital electronic devices and digital media storage devices. A full forensic digital examination of the devices seized from Goeller is pending, the affidavit says, but a digital forensic preview tool was utilized on the laptop and indicated at least 10 images of child pornography and other files names with terms associated with child pornography.

After the completion of the search warrant, the affidavit says, investigators learned that Goeller had made contact with a local priest to confess to child pornography having been found on his computer. Goeller also immediately resigned as an assistant scoutmaster with the Boy Scouts of America due to his interaction with this criminal investigation.
Larson cautioned that the charge contained in this complaint is simply an accusation, and not evidence of guilt.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Luna. It was investigated by the FBI.

Fire inspectors are continuing to look into a fire that destroyed a building in downtown St. Joseph Monday night.

Fire Inspector Robert Blizzard, with the St. Joseph Fire Department said crews arrived on scene in the area of N 13th and Church Streets around 11:37 p.m. Monday to find flames coming from the rear of the building.  Blizzard said the building had sat vacant and no utilities were hooked up at the time the fire started.   No injuries were reported.

“No one that I know of was inside the building at the time,” Blizzard said. “The fire is under investigation.”

He estimated the building a complete loss of around $35,000.  When crews left the scene around three hours after arriving, Blizzard said only the front and half of the north and south side walls of the building were left standing.

Roads in the area were closed off while crews were on scene.

A St. Joseph teen has pleaded guilty to charges filed after a crash in April in which four other teenagers died.

As we previously reported, 18-year-old Skylar Lucas-Cox was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of 2nd degree assault following the crash on Riverside Road near Cook which claimed the lives of Karlo Ginn, Dayton Crockett, Dasean Darden and Javion Thompson.

Court documents assert Lucas-Cox was driving recklessly in a stolen vehicle, and that after the crash he tested positive for cocaine, marijuana and benzodiazepines.

Lucas-Cox appeared before Circuit Court Judge Daniel Kellogg Monday and pleaded guilty to his role in the crash.  Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 6 at 10 a.m.

(News release) – Missouri Western State University’s Strategic Plan Steering Committee is seeking public input for its strategic plan for 2017 to 2022.

The committee is asking faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members to help identify Missouri Western’s key strengths, challenges and future initiatives. University stakeholders are asked to provide their feedback online at missouriwestern.edu/strategicplan/ by Sept. 30.

Missouri Western formally initiated a five-year strategic planning process in 2002. The 12-member Strategic Planning Committee includes staff, faculty and student representatives led by Dr. Doug Davenport, associate provost for research, planning and institutional effectiveness.

The strategic plan is intended to guide major Missouri Western decisions for the next five years. The committee has conducted a comprehensive environmental analysis and created university and student profiles that are available for review on the strategic plan website. Also available are previous strategic plans.

CONCEPTION, Mo. (AP) — A northwest Missouri abbey has reached a $415,000 settlement in a lawsuit alleging it covered up a former monk’s sexual abuse of boys.

The Kansas City Star reports the lawsuit filed in 2011 was settled this month. The defendant’s attorney, Rebecca Randles, confirmed the settlement amount.

Former choirboy Jim Luke said in the lawsuit that Bede Parry, a Benedictine monk, abused him for 18 months in the early 1980s. Parry taught Luke piano and also led the boys choir.

The lawsuit alleged abbey leaders knew Parry had sexually abused other students before Luke but kept it quiet.

In a 2011 interview with The Star, Parry admitted having inappropriate sexual contact with several members of the choir when he directed the group from 1982 to 1987. He died in 2013.