The Chief of Staff for Missouri’s Lt. Governor has been busted on child porn charges.  Eric Feltner, who has apparently never seen an episode of Dateline,  was caught up in an internet sting and charged with two counts of attempting to furnish pornographic materials to a minor.  He thought he was chatting with a 13-year-old girl, but the person he was discussing masturbation with in graphic detail was actually a Jefferson City police officer.

[Updated below]    

But it gets weird really fast.  For instance, Fired Up! has some details that get my cynic up, and since Howard Beale has done the heavy lifting, I’m not wasting my time reinventing the wheel.  From his most recent post:

Observers note oddities in the timing of the charges.  According to the charging information, Feltner’s criminal acts took place on May 25, 2007 and July 6, 2007 but no criminal charges were filed until May 21, 2008 –just days before the one year statute of limitations would have tolled on a misdemeanor charge.  The reason for the delay is unclear from court filings.

Additionally, the probable cause statement filed in support of the charging information is also unusual.  Specifically, the information provided in that document states that the criminal incidents took place on May 25 and July 6 of 2008, an obvious impossibility, since July 6, 2008 is a date in the future.  This obvious error suggests that the probable cause statement is written in the recent past (sometime in Spring 2008) and might differ from a statement drafted contemporaneously with the precipitating events in summer 2007.

At least one criminal defense practitioner familiar with situations like Feltner’s suggests that the charges he faces are irregular.  While Feltner is charged with two counts of furnishing pornography to a minor –a misdemeanor charge– attorneys who often deal with such cases indicate that in similar circumstances a defendant ordinarily faces felony charges.

Other issues of note:

*The first online exchange for which Feltner is charged, according to Jefferson City Police, occurred at 4:14pm on May 25, 2007, a Friday afternoon.  This raises a significant question about where Feltner engaged in his criminal acts.  Since the event took place at a time that is traditionally during the business day, one might reasonably inquire as to whether a state computer was used in the commission of these acts.

*What reason did the Cole County prosecuting attorney Mark Richardson, a Republican, have for waiting as long as he did before bringing charges against Feltner?  Was there any intervention on Feltner’s behalf?

Good questions.  Wonder if they’ll be answered any time soon?  

UPDATE:

The Kansas City Star is reporting that Kinder acted swiftly to terminate Feltner’s employment and that the Lt. Governor’s office will cooperate fully with any investigations into the matter.

Kinder immediately fired Feltner, who served as his chief of staff and formerly as his deputy lieutenant governor and advocate for senior citizens.

Feltner, 40, was not available to comment on the charges.

In a statement issued by his office, Kinder said the office was unaware of the investigation into Feltner’s activities until contacted this morning about the charges.

“While these allegations have yet to be proven, I feel that even the appearance of impropriety on such a disturbing scale cannot be tolerated,” Kinder said. “I have made it clear to my staff that I will not accept even the appearance of this type of troubling behavior by anyone in my office.”

Within an hour of learning of the charges, Kinder ordered an internal review of Feltner’s state e-mail account, state computer and other state electronic systems that Feltner might have had access to.

Kinder spokesman Gary McElyea said Feltner’s e-mail access was severed and the office would fully cooperate with investigators.

Feltner joined the lieutenant governor’s office in February 2005, a month after Kinder took office. He became Kinder’s chief of staff last December. He previously worked 10 years for U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof of Columbia, who is now seeking the Republican nomination for governor.