The federal government will now prosecute a 36-year-old Fayette man who was charged in state court with eight counts of possession of child pornography. Roylee Jeffry Poland was indicted last week by a grand jury on one count of receiving child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography, both Class C felonies.

A motion to dismiss the state’s charges against Poland was filed in Howard County court on Thursday, Jan. 15, by Prosecutor Deborah Riekhof, effectively handing the case to federal prosecutors.

Poland was scheduled face a bench trial in March.

The federal indictment against Poland was filed on Jan. 13 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

Riekhof said because the case involved the Federal Communications Commission, it was a federal case to begin with. She filed charges in August 2025 in state court before the statute of limitations expired. The alleged offenses took place in 2022.

Riekhof  said she learned on Wednesday that the federal government would take over the case.

Federal prosecutors have filed a detainer on Poland, who was booked into the Morgan County jail in Versailles without bond on Monday. He was previously held at the Cooper County Jail due to a conflict at the Howard County Jail.

Poland faces no less than five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine for each count. If guilty, he could be sentenced to up to 20 years on the count of receiving child pornography and 10 years for the count of possession of child pornography, with lifetime supervision upon release.

Poland was charged on Aug. 26, 2025, with eight counts of possessing child pornography, which depicts children possibly as young as six years old engaging in sexual acts.

An investigation against Poland began in 2022 after he complained to police that he was being extorted with images of child pornography by someone named “Misty” on the social media app, Telegram. He claimed the hacker placed child pornography on his computer and demanded payment of $150 or he would alert law enforcement. Officers later seized the computer. Further forensic investigations revealed that photos of nude children had been on the computer since before Poland claimed he had been hacked.