Latest local news, weather and high school sports for Tri-State area

A former Hannibal resident and Boy Scout leader was arrested Thursday on charges related to Internet sex crimes involving two teenage victims.

Ian F. Burow, 22, of Columbia, Mo. was arrested on charges of promoting a sexual performance by a child, sexual exploitation of a minor regarding one minor victim and suspicion of the attempted promoting of a sexual performance by a child regarding the second victim.

Victims were identified from across the state of Missouri including Hannibal and Sedalia, the Boone County Sheriff's Office said.

He remains in the Boone County Jail on a $75,000 bond.

The investigation began in early November 2011 when the Boone County Sheriff's Department received a complaint from the Boy Scouts of America regarding inappropriate Facebook conversations involving scouts.

A Facebook account under the user name “Sarah McGee” from Columbia, Mo. was soliciting minors for nude photographs of themselves, the Boone County Sheriff's Department said.

Scout officials believed that the account was fake and that it belonged to a male summer camp Boy Scout leader, the press release said.

A cyber-crimes task force obtained a warrant to search the account. The search uncovered a number of exchanges between the user and young boys, the release said.

The task force also used a search warrant to examine the email account linked to the Sarah McGee Facebook page. They found numerous sexually explicit photographs, the release says.

Investigators arrested  Burow about 8:30 a.m. Thursday morning seizing his computer and cellular telephone. Many of the items revealed evidence linking Burow to the Sarah McGee account, according to the press release.

It's believed that many of the boys who were contacted attended scout camps during the past summers where Burow served as a scout leader, the release says.

The Cyber Crimes Task Force is asking anyone contacted by or engaged in any conversations with a person purporting themselves to be a female named Sarah McGee of Columbia, Mo to contact a Task Force investigator at 573-442-4302.