From: Platte County Prosecuting Attorney "Eric Zahnd"
Date: August 12, 2010
Subject: Alert citizens help catch man with child pornography
A Parkville man faces up to 74 years in prison after two repairmen reported they saw child pornography on his computer. Richard Volberding, 51, pled guilty to six counts of possessing child pornography on August 12, admitting he possessed videos, still images, and written material depicting young children engaged in sexual conduct.
Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said, “This defendant possessed literally thousands of pieces of illegal child pornography depicting children being sexually abused by their parents, raped, and sodomized, as well as bestiality involving child victims. Anyone who collects that kind of truly sickening filth deserves decades in prison.”
On February 22, 2010, Daniel Johnson of Kansas City and Mark Owens of Parkville went to Volberding’s house to repair a water heater. Johnson and Owens walked by Volberding’s computer on the way to the house’s circuit box. They saw images of naked children in sexually suggestive poses on the computer.
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Richard Volberding
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The two men made an excuse to leave the house and immediately reported what they had seen to the Parkville Police. Based on the information provided by Johnson and Owens, police obtained a search warrant for Volberding’s residence. Officers seized multiple computers and storage media from the house.
During Volberding’s guilty plea, prosecutors noted that a forensic examination of the seized items revealed more than ten videos and thousands of still images of suspected child pornography. Examination of one of the computers also uncovered thousands of fantasy stories describing child sexual abuse, child rape, incest and bestiality.
Zahnd said, ”I commend Mr. Johnson and Mr. Owens for their keen observation and willingness to get involved by reporting what they saw to police. But for their efforts, this defendant may well have escaped justice. I am proud to be part of community where ordinary citizens step forward and do their part to protect kids.“
The case was investigated by the Parkville Police Department, with the assistance of the Platte County Sheriff’s Department’s Cyber Crimes Unit and the Heart of America Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory. It was prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutor Jaclyn Taylor and Assistant Prosecutor Chris Seufert, who is the assistant prosecutor assigned to the Cyber Crimes Unit.
Eric G. Zahnd
Platte County Prosecuting Attorney
415 Third Street
Suite 60
Platte City, Missouri 64079
(816) 858-3476
(816) 858-3472 (fax)
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