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Former Kansas City, Missouri, police officer receives probation for child pornography possession

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Posted at 4:36 PM, Jul 15, 2021
and last updated 2021-07-15 17:36:34-04

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A former Kansas City, Missouri, police officer who pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography has been sentenced to probation and must register as a sex offender.

Despite the state requesting that Vincent A Spilker, 30, receive 10 years in prison, he was granted probation under the condition that if he violates it within the next five years, he then would face a decade behind bars.

The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office announced Thursday that Spilker also must complete sex-offender treatment and have his internet activity monitored. Additionally, he is not allowed unsupervised contact with anyone younger than 18 years old.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a tip in August 2018 regarding an account on the social media site Tumblr that featured several images of nude females who appeared to be younger than 18 years old and two photos of a girl who appeared to be younger than 8 years old topless, “in white panties and posing sexually,” according to a probable cause statement.

After receiving a subpoena to access the IP address associated with the Tumblr account, it was determined to be connected to Spilker.

“Spilker said he did, in fact, repost pictures of nude and partially nude females on the account,” court documents stated. “Spilker was not sure of the amount of pictures he reposted but said the girls appeared to be under the age of eighteen. Spilker said he believes some of the girls who were nude were probably between the ages of 10 to 12 years old. Spilker said he knew reposting the pictures was wrong and he did not want to be the kind of person who shared pictures of nude young girls.”

He pleaded guilty in February to two counts of possession of child pornography.

Spilker was suspended without pay in September 2019 and is no longer with the department.

For jurisdictions that utilize the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline, anonymous tips can be made by calling 816-474-TIPS (8477), submitting the tip online or through the free mobile app at P3Tips.com.

Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the 41 Action News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the 41 Action News Mug Shot Policy.