Smithville Woman Arrested for Possession of Child Pornography

A four-month-investigation culminated with the arrest of a Smithville woman yesterday for possession of child sexual abuse material.

Sheriff’s Office deputies and detectives served a search warrant yesterday at the residence of 44-year-old Melissa Bottom. She has been charged with two class B felony counts of possession of child pornography. The Court set her bond at $25,000. The investigation is ongoing, and more charges may be warranted as analysis of evidence seized from the home progresses.

Sheriff’s Office investigators received an Internet Crimes Against Children tip in this case in December 2024. They have worked through several legal processes over the last several months to gather evidence in the case, culminating yesterday in Bottom’s arrest and the search warrant of her house in the 14100 block of Lora Street, Smithville.

The Clay County Sheriff’s Office is part of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program. It is a network of 61 coordinated task forces, representing more than 5,400 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, dedicated to investigating, prosecuting and developing effective responses to internet crimes against children.

This case was a result of a tip to the Cyber Tipline, the nation’s centralized reporting system for the online exploitation of children. It is operated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The Sheriff’s Office encourages anyone with information about suspected online enticement of children for sexual acts, child sexual molestation, child sexual abuse material, child sex tourism, child sex trafficking or unsolicited obscene materials sent to a child to report that to the Cyber Tipline online or by calling 1-800-THE-LOST. Those tips are routed to local law enforcement like the Clay County Sheriff’s Office for investigation.

KPGZ News – Sarah Boyd contributed to this story.