Information updated on local, federal sex offender Henning

A man who was sentenced to federal prison after transporting child pornography and is now living near Ash Grove recently had his personal information updated. The Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office sent an e-mail from their website on Friday, June 26, showing an update on sex offenders whose information changed over the previous 24 hours. Among the offenders listed was Brandon Keith Henning, 38. It was not immediately clear why Henning’s information was updated.
Henning’s case was tried in the United States District Court in Norfolk, Va. According to the Statement of Facts in the case, on Aug. 30, 2007, Henning transported a video file listed as “StPetersburg.wmv” over his AOL e-mail account, “whitevenomva@aol.com.” The video was described as a five-minute movie file in which a “pre-pubescent female” performs sexual favors on an adult male.
The Statement of Facts reported that AOL automatically scanned the file as a matter of protocol and determined it was possibly child pornography.
The AOL server alerted on this file and determined that it contained a suspected child pornography file. Based upon this scan, AOL sent a tip to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) located in Bedford County, Va.
At the time of the offense, Henning was an active-duty sailor with the United States Navy stationed in Norfolk. After the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office determined his identity, they forwarded their information to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), who investigated further.
NCIS performed a federal search warrant on Henning’s residence and seized two computers and several electronic devices for analysis; 38 images and five child pornography movies were found on the computers’ hard drives. The files and movies were sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), where it was determined 10 of the files on Henning’s computers were of known child victims.
Under questioning, Henning admitted to sending the file.
“Henning admitted that he used the AOL account ‘whitevenomva’ and that he used that email account to send the ‘StPetersburg.wmv’ file on no more than five occasions,” the statement of facts read. “Henning further admitted to possessing child pornography on his computers.”
Henning was taken into federal custody on July 21, 2008. According to the court order remanding him into custody, there was also evidence that Henning “attempted to solicit an undercover agent for sex when he believed the agent was a 12-year-old girl.”
The order also listed Henning’s impending divorce and discharge from the Navy, among other factors, as grounds to keep Henning in custody pending his trial. The order did not state what sort of discharge Henning received, but sex crimes are grounds for a dishonorable discharge from the military.
According to a plea agreement dated Sept. 22, 2008, Henning pleaded guilty to one count of transportation of child pornography; another count of transportation of child pornography and a count of possession of material containing child pornography were dismissed.
On Jan. 13, 2009, Henning was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, to be followed by lifetime supervised release. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol Sex Offender database, he was released from federal custody on Aug. 25, 2016. His case was transferred to the Western District of Missouri Federal Court on Sept. 11, 2018. In addition to the standard requirements for convicted sex offenders, Henning is required to be in his residence between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m., unless his work requires him to be out past 9 p.m. In that case, he is required to return to his residence within 30 minutes after he gets off work.
Henning is listed as a Tier-Two sex offender, and the Missouri State Highway Patrol describes him as compliant. Henning currently resides just south of Ash Grove and west of F highway. More information on Henning can be found on the list of sex offenders at the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office website and on the Missouri State Highway Patrol Sex Offender Database.