A Poplar Bluff man faces multiple felonies in connection to the discovery he possessed more than 700 images of nude child and produced child pornography by exploiting a child in Dent County, according to documents filed in circuit court.
Marvin T. Stephens, 42, is charged with two felony counts of possession of child pornography and two felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. His bond was set at $1 million cash only.
The case’s probable cause report states a female victim, nine years old at the time of the interview, told investigators on May 24, 2018, that Stephens had engaged in inappropriate conversations with her, made her watch pornographic videos on his phone, took nude pictures of her and touched her in private areas multiple times at a Dent County residence. The allegations were made during three separate forensic interviews at Kid’s Harbor Too in St. Robert. The victim also said Stephens showed her pictures of naked girls who she described as younger than herself.
The report states Stephens denied the allegations during a subsequent interview with a detective from the Dent County Sheriff’s Office on July 24, 2018.
On Aug. 4, 2018, a computer used by Stephens was seized by the sheriff’s office. Subsequent forensic investigations by the South-Central Missouri Computer Crimes Task Force and Missouri State Technical Assistance Team concluded on Jan. 25 that Stephens searched for child pornography using the computer and more than 700 images of nude children had been saved on its hard drive, with all but one having been deleted or marked for deletion. Eight of the images discovered were additionally found to be of the victim who’d reported Stephens had photographed her while naked.
On Feb. 5, a Dent County resident confirmed to a sheriff’s office detective the background of one of the explicit images appeared to be of a local residence where Stephens was known to have temporarily stayed in 2017. A subsequent visit by a detective confirmed the assertion.
Stephens arrest warrant was issued Feb. 15. He was taken into custody after being located in Utah.
