Sedalia Man Arrested for Child Pornography After Tip from NCMEC

This article is compiled from the Sedalia Police Department crime reports. 

On 10/27/2023, Detectives with the Sedalia Police Department and the Ray County Cyber Crimes Task Force went to the 1900 block of S Park Ave in Sedalia to follow up on a Cyber Tip received from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. According to the probable cause statement, the tip was generated in December of 2021 and involved four videos and one image of male children who appeared to be between the ages of seven to ten years old.

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The tip was associated with a Kik account, and the email account associated with it and the android device checked back to the suspect.

Contact was made with the suspect, Steven N. Lefevers, 41, of Sedalia. Lefevers stated he had downloaded the Kik app, but denied remembering making an account.   He did state the email address in question belonged to him. Detectives asked for consent to search Lefevers' phone and found one video of child pornography in a "secret file" located on the phone.  Detectives then seized the phone, as well as a laptop computer, and an 8 GB thumb drive.

During the forensic download, Detectives found two Mega accounts, which the probable cause report states are known to be used as storage for child pornography due to high levels of encryption.  They also discovered four Tumblr accounts and 3 Kik accounts, all held by Lefevers. Lefevers was found to be in possession of child pornography and was arrested. Lefevers was charged with Possession of Child Pornography.

The Ray County Cyber Crimes Task Force is newly formed and covers 7 counties, including Pettis. Two detectives with the Sedalia Police Department are currently assigned as affiliate members of the RCCCTF.