Child pornography investigation under review
Former MUPD officer Nathan Roberts resigned last year.
Published Sept. 24, 2010
A special prosecutor has been assigned to examine results of multiple investigations into an incident that led to the resignation of former MU Police Department Officer Nathan Roberts.
The investigations stemmed from Roberts possessing a thumb drive with pornographic material, according to a previous Maneater article. Another MUPD officer found a thumb drive with child pornographic images in a police car after Roberts' shift.
The Boone County Prosecuting Attorney's office turned the responsibility over to Randolph County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Fusselman, said Detective Andy Anderson, a member of the Mid-Missouri Internet Crimes Task Force.
The task force received results of an MUPD internal investigation and conducted an independent investigation into the incident.
According to previous Maneater reports, the task force works with agencies across mid-Missouri to investigate crimes involving computers or the Internet.
Task force investigations include but are not limited to Internet enticement of children, child pornography, trafficking of children, trafficking of illegal narcotics to children, harassment, cyber bullying, terrorist threats and other crimes facilitated through the use of computers, the Internet or other electronic media.
Roberts resigned in early April after being presented with the findings from the internal investigation by MUPD.
MUPD strictly followed policy and procedure with its internal investigation and was careful to keep it separate from any criminal investigation that might have been conducted, MUPD Chief Jack Watring said in a previous article. Roberts was put on suspension during the internal investigation.
MUPD gave the results of its internal investigation to the Mid-Missouri Internet Crimes Task Force to conduct a further investigation into the incident, Anderson said. After the task force concluded its investigation, the findings were presented to the Boone County Prosecuting Attorney's office for examination in July.
The Boone County Prosecuting Attorney's office would not give any comment or information regarding the investigation because it is no longer handling the case.
Fusselman did not answer phone calls to comment on the progress of the investigation or to confirm whether charges will eventually be filed.
No charges have been filed against Roberts for the incident, according to court records.