Man sentenced for printing child pornography at library

A Kansas City man has been found guilty and sentenced for leaving child pornography on a public library printer.

David R. Buie, 63, of Kansas City, was found guilty of one count of possessing obscene images of the sexual abuse of children, contained in an Oct. 25, 2017, federal indictment.

Evidence introduced during the trial indicated that Buie printed images of child pornography from a computer at a public library on July 11, 2017. Buie printed about 50 pages from a computer he was using at the Mid-Continent Public Library at 9253 Blue Ridge Blvd., Kansas City.

Buie, who had prior Federal convictions, didn’t realize that the printer stopped because it was out of toner, so his print jobs were interrupted and only about half of his pages were printed.

After Buie left the library, the toner in the printer was changed and the remaining pages of his original print job were printed. As one of the librarians was cleaning up, she removed the remaining pages and observed they were color copies from a graphic sex comic.

Library staff contacted the Kansas City Police Department to make a report. Buie was identified because his library card was associated with the print job. Security cameras within the library showed him using a computer at the time of the printing.

The U.S. Probation Office was also contacted, because Buie was on supervised release for a prior federal felony conviction for possessing child pornography. When probation officers searched Buie’s residence, they found the images of child obscenity that Buie had printed at the library.

Buie told investigators that he visited various public libraries about once a week to view child obscenity anime. Buie said he often printed the images on the library’s printer.

Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City deliberated for less than an hour before returning the guilty verdicts to U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough, ending a trial that began Monday, May 7, 2018.

Under federal statutes, Buie is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole due to a prior felony conviction for possessing child pornography, up to a sentence of 20 years in federal prison without parole.

The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.

A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.