Thaindian News

KANSAS CITY (BNO NEWS) – A former Olathe, Kansas school coach on Tuesday was sentenced to federal prison on child pornography charges, prosecutors said.

Michael T. Cowley, 39, was sentenced to over 17 years in federal prison after he admitted posing on Facebook as a 19-year-old female in order to persuade minor boys to send him photos of themselves nude and engaging in sexual activities. In exchange, he sent them nude photos of a girl that he got from the internet.

The investigation began in February 2009 when the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office received a report from police in Vancouver, Washington, that a 13-year-old male had exchanged nude photos with a Facebook user who claimed to be a 19-year-old girl in Overland Park, Kansas.

Starting from the Facebook page of a user called “Ashley,” who listed 696 friends, investigators followed an electronic trail through MySpace, Yahoo and AT&T Internet Services to an account held by Cowley.

Investigators discovered that Cowley taught a computer class at Brentwood Elementary School in Overland Park, coached various sports teams, drove a bus route for the California Trail Junior High School, and worked for the Jewish Community Center as director of a summer sports camp for 1st through 6th grade boys and girls.

Among the list of friends on user “Ashley’s” Facebook page were children who were on teams Cowley coached and others who had face-to-face contact with Cowley. Eleven children reported receiving nude images from the user called “Ashley” and seven boys reported sending nude images of themselves to the user called “Ashley.”

A search warrant at Cowley’s residence found hundreds of images of nude boys and girls, as well as minors engaged in sexual acts.

The case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative of the U.S. Department of Justice to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.