The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Monday that Jason Jones, 46, a Mobile man who allegedly used social media apps to lure and trick his young victims, has been sentenced to 17.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexual exploitation of a minor and attempted coercion and enticement of a minor.
Jones was arrested as part of Operation Restore Justice, a national effort to crack down on child sexual abuse and exploitation that took place earlier this year, which resulted in 205 arrests, including at least five in Alabama, with three of those being in South Alabama.
He was initially charged with sexual exploitation of minors, coercion and enticement, distribution of child pornography, access with intent to view child pornography, and transfer of obscene material to a minor.
The Justice Department said in a statement that Jones "would pose as an attractive teenage boy on various online applications such as Snapchat and manipulate young girls to produce and send pornographic images to him. Jones communicated with two minor victims, ages 11 and 13."
"Jones pled guilty to distributing items of child pornography and obscene material through internet-based applications to underage girls to entice them to engage in sexually explicit conduct," according to the release.
Child pornography was found on three of Jones' devices.
"The Department of Justice will never stop fighting to protect victims — especially child victims — and we will not rest until we hunt down, arrest, and prosecute every child predator who preys on the most vulnerable among us," said Attorney General Pamela Bondi in a release following the national operation in May. "I am grateful to the FBI and their state and local partners for their incredible work in Operation Restore Justice and have directed my prosecutors not to negotiate."
"Every child deserves to grow up free from fear and exploitation, and the FBI will continue to be relentless in our pursuit of those who exploit the most vulnerable among us," said FBI Director Kash Patel at the time. "Operation Restore Justice proves that no predator is out of reach and no child will be forgotten. By leveraging the strength of all our field offices and our federal, state and local partners, we're sending a clear message: there is no place to hide for those who prey on children."
Jones will be placed on a 15-year term of supervised release after incarceration and is prohibited from possessing internet-capable devices. He is also ordered to have no contact with minors. Jones will be required to register as a sex offender.
Operation Restore Justice was a part of a broader Department of Justice effort, Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006.
According to the Department of Justice, "Project Safe Childhood is led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc."
The DOJ continues to promote resources available to families to protect and educate children about the dangers, including the FBI's Safe Online Surfing (SOS) program. According to the FBI, the program "teaches students in grades 3 to 8 how to navigate the web safely. The age-appropriate lessons and games cover topics like cyberbullying, protecting personal information, recognizing trustworthy and untrustworthy sites, and avoiding malware."
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