Apr. 12—SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A Carthage man pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to downloading child pornography to both his workplace computer and employer-issued Apple iPhone.

Shane T. Barton, 56, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Springfield to a count of receiving and distributing child pornography.

His plea constituted an admission that he downloaded about 10,000 images and about 100 videos of suspected child pornography to a desk computer in his workplace and that he had downloaded similar videos to an iPhone his former employer provided, the U.S. attorney's office in Springfield said in a news release.

The crime came to light when the director of information technology for the employer learned of a suspected virus on Barton's office computer, which was connected to the employer's business network. After finding an unauthorized antivirus program on the computer on Jan. 5, 2022, he made an additional discovery of several files containing adult and child pornography and notified management of the violation of company policy, the U.S. attorney's office said.

The company placed Barton on leave and had him turn over the work iPhone while an internal investigation was conducted. He resigned his position a couple of weeks later, the U.S. attorney's office said.

The FBI and Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force were notified and initiated an investigation that led to the charging of the defendant.

Barton will be sentenced following completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office. He is subject to a mandatory minimum term of five years without parole and could receive up to 20 years for the conviction.

Jeff Lehr is a reporter for The Joplin Globe.