Fresno man sentenced to more than 8 years for receiving child pornography

FRESNO, Calif. — A Fresno man was sentenced Tuesday to 97 months in federal prison for receiving child pornography, following an investigation by the Central California Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Fresno County Sheriff's Department, and the Madera and Clovis police departments.

In addition to the prison term, the sentencing judge ordered Jeffrey Lee Jordan, 57, to pay $20,000 in restitution. Senior U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii scheduled a hearing for Nov. 4 to determine how to distribute the $20,000 Jordan presented to the court for victim compensation. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California.

Upon completion of his jail time, Jordan will be subject to 15 years' supervised release, during which time he will be required to register as a sex offender and his access to minors, computers and the Internet will be restricted.

According to court documents, Jordan admitted that between Feb. 7 and March 6 of this year, he knowingly received more than 600 images of child pornography, several of which depicted prepubescent minors, violence and sadistic or masochistic conduct. Jordan was arrested April 5 and taken into custody when he pleaded guilty June 10.

"Each time an image of child pornography is viewed, that child is victimized again," said Mike Prado, resident agent in charge of HSI Fresno. "As a result of HSI's close collaboration with our law enforcement partners here in the Central Valley, this individual will be held accountable for his actions and spend many years behind bars, where he can no longer victimize innocent children."

The charges stem from Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers, and Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice effort launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc. Click on the "resources" tab for information about Internet safety.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423 or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-843-5678.

HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.