Former Kansas child crime investigator sentenced for child porn; several Missourians plead guilty, sentenced for sex crimes

A former Kansas law enforcement officer who was promoted to investigate online crimes against children has been sentenced to prison for enticing a minor to produce child pornography.

“The defendant in this case was a law enforcement officer at the time this crime occurred,” U.S. Attorney Ryan Kriegshauser said in a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas. “It’s deeply troubling that someone who took an oath to protect and serve the public would turn out to be someone from whom our society needs protection.”

Garrett Gayoso, 25, of Baxter Springs, Kansas, began messaging a 16-year-old girl in August 2024 on a website meant for people at least 18 years old. The girl quickly told Gayoso, who was a licensed law enforcement officer at the time, that she was 16 and later sent him an image of her personal identification to confirm her age.

Gayoso continued messaging the girl and groomed her to engage in sexually explicit activity. Three days after they started messaging, Gayoso successfully convinced the girl to send him nude images, according to court documents.

“Child predators are master manipulators,” Kriegshauser said. “Children should be taught that any time someone directs them to keep secrets from trusted adults that is not someone with whom they should be communicating.”

Hundreds of inappropriate photos and images were shared in the messages between Gayoso and the girl, and he often called her by sexually explicit and demeaning names. Gayoso eventually traveled from Kansas to Massachusetts to have sex with the girl.

While he was still inappropriately interacting with the girl, Gayoso was promoted to a detective role in February 2025, where he became responsible for investigating online crimes against children. He continued messaging the girl until April 2025 when the victim’s mother discovered the sexually explicit messages.

Gayoso was arrested in December and has pleaded guilty to one count of production of child pornography. He has been sentenced to more than 18 years in prison.

Other crimes

David Lee Maddox

David Lee Maddox, 60, of Holts Summit, Missouri, which is roughly 30 minutes south of Columbia, has pleaded guilty to paying for live child pornography from the Philippines.

Maddox communicated with traffickers in the Philippines between September 2021 and December 2023 and paid them through various money-transmitting services to receive live pornography videos of children.

Maddox received roughly 20 “shows” from child victims broadcast live from the Philippines through Skype.

An investigation of Maddox began in August 2023, and he was originally charged with nine counts of attempted production of child pornography, each of which carried a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

Maddox pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of attempted production of child pornography and faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

Tommie Earnest Giles

Tommie Earnest Giles, 53, of Kansas City, traveled across the state line to attempt to have sex with a 14-year-old girl in Overland Park, Kansas.

In July 2025, Giles used social media to chat with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl, but who was actually an undercover agent from the FBI. Giles had sexual conversations with the girl and persuaded her to let him come to her home for sexual activity.

“Parents need to be aware that child predators are lurking on the internet and should take measures to protect their children and know of their internet activity,” Kriegshauser said in a news release.

Giles traveled to what he believed was the girl’s home but was arrested by FBI agents. At the scene, he admitted he thought he was meeting a 14-year-old girl and said he would have done sexual things to her if the meetup had been real.

Giles pleaded guilty to one count of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor and has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Anthony Dale Pitts-Fugate

Anthony Dale Pitts-Fugate, 33, of Cole County, Missouri, which is 40 minutes south of Columbia, pleaded guilty Wednesday to producing child pornography.

In March 2023, an undercover FBI task force officer was monitoring a public online group for the distribution of child pornography when Pitts-Fugate messaged the officer and sent them a pornographic image of a young child that he had produced.

The next month, a 16-year-old girl reached out to the Cole County Sheriff’s Department to report Pitts-Fugate was pretending to be a 16-year-old boy on Snapchat and had reached out to her to ask for sexually explicit photos.

Pitts-Fugate has pleaded guilty in federal court to two counts of production of child pornography in two separate cases and faces a maximum prison sentence of 60 years without parole.

(Photo credit: Lucas van Oort, Unsplash)