Kansas man indicted in Houston on child pornography, sex tourism charges

HOUSTON — A Kansas man, who was residing in Panama, was indicted Feb. 1 and charged with multiple crimes involving sexual conduct with minors in a foreign country.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents assisted the FBI with this investigation.

Jebediah Dishman, 70, of Freedonia, Kansas, was arrested Nov. 8 in Houston and originally charged by criminal complaint. He was later found to be a flight risk and ordered into custody. On Thursday, a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas indicted him on charges of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor in a foreign country, producing child pornography, sex trafficking children, and obtaining custody and control of a minor for the purpose of producing child pornography.  

According to the indictment, from September 2014 through March 2015, Dishman traveled from the United States to the Republic of Indonesia and engaged in illicit sexual conduct with minors. While in Indonesia in February 2015, Dishman allegedly used a minor to produce child pornography. In addition, the indictment alleges that between September 2014 and March 2015, Dishman attempted to recruit and entice minors in the Republic of Indonesia and other countries outside of the territorial jurisdiction of the United States to engage in commercial sex acts.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri Zack of the Southern District of Texas and trial Attorney Elly M. Peirson of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) are prosecuting this case.

An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.