Two Strafford women charged with sexually abusing children to produce child pornography

SPRINGFIELD, Missouri – A federal grand jury has indicted two Strafford women on five counts of sexually abusing two children for nearly eight years to produce child pornography.

According to a US federal court, 40-year-old Mallory Nicole Bunch and 34-year-old Jessica Nicole Pickett are accused of participating, together with the now deceased Thomas Bunch, in a conspiracy to sexually abuse two minors and create child pornography from them between September 2, 2016 and May 23, 2024.

Thomas Bunch, Mallory Buch’s husband, was in a polyamorous relationship with Pickett and his wife when they produced child pornography.

On June 11, 2024, a federal criminal complaint was filed against Pickett. An affidavit attached to the complaint states that Pickett sent minor Victim 1 an iCloud link containing 376 images and two videos of sexual activities involving Pickett, Mallory, and Thomas Bunch.

The indictment accuses Pickett of using minor Victim 2 to produce child pornography and of distributing obscene material to minor Victim 1.

The affidavit also states that Thomas Bunch asked Mallory Bunch to record the sexual abuse of minor Victim 1 using her cell phone. Mallory then texted the videos of the sexual abuse to Thomas.

In addition to the conspiracy, the indictment accuses Mallory Bunch of exploiting the minor Victim 1 to produce child pornography and of distributing child pornography.

The case was investigated by the Greene County and Webster County Sheriff’s Departments, Homeland Security Investigations and the Southwest Missouri Cyber ​​Crimes Task Force.