Former Taney County volunteer firefighter sentenced following distributing child pornography

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A former Taney County volunteer firefighter was sentenced for sharing child pornography online in 2023.

According to a United States Department of Justice press release, Cameron Ryan, 36, of Hollister, has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison without parole. Ryan was also sentenced to 10 years of supervised release following incarceration.

The court has ordered Ryan to pay $51,000 in restitution to his victims and $5,000 for a special assessment under the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, the release says.

Ryan will be required to register as a sex offender following his release from prison and will be subject to federal and state sex offender registration requirements throughout the rest of his life.

Ryan first pleaded guilty on Dec. 17, 2024 to one count of receipt and distribution of child pornography.

Ryan was identified as a suspect in the case after a CyberTip was made to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

An undercover FBI agent downloaded numerous images of minor children on Nov. 28, 2023, from an image hosting website through the suspect's user profile, who was later identified as Ryan.

The undercover agent began communicating with Ryan, and he sent a video of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

After identifying Ryan as the suspect, multiple officers searched his cell phones and found the messages of the conversation with the FBI agent. Ryan was found through a forensic analysis of two phones with 1,800 files containing child pornography.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie L. Wan. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, the Springfield Police Department and the Taney County Sheriff’s Office.