Pennsylvania private ambulance business owner sentenced to nearly 7 years in prison on child pornography charges

WILMINGTON, Del. – A Pennsylvania man was sentenced yesterday to 80 months in federal prison for transporting child pornography via an online peer-to-peer network. This investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Jason Haldeman, 38, of Landenberg, Pa., was also sentenced to five years of supervised release following his prison sentence. He will also be required to register as a sex offender in any jurisdiction in which he lives, works or attends school.

Haldeman, who is the owner and operator of Stat Care Ambulance Service, Inc., in West Grove, Pa., was identified by HSI during an online investigation into a computer network devoted to trading images of child pornography. During that investigation, an undercover special agent located in Delaware downloaded 74 files depicting child pornography that Haldeman had made available to network members.

Special agents arrested Haldeman and executed search warrants at his Landenberg residence and West Grove office Jan. 20, 2011. Upon entering Haldeman's private office at his business, special agents found a computer logged into the computer network previously identified during the investigation. On this computer were approximately 16,000 files, including approximately 3,000 movies, depicting child pornography available for download by approximately 150 other network members. The vast majority of these images and movies depicted prepubescent and teenage boys and girls engaged in sex acts with other boys or adult males, or posing lasciviously.

"All children have an absolute right to grow up free from the fear of being sexually exploited," said John P. Kelleghan, special agent in charge of HSI Philadelphia. "While this sentence cannot repair the permanent damage done to the children depicted in these images, it should serve as a warning to those who engage in this behavior: HSI and our partners will be relentless in our pursuit of online predators."

During the post-arrest investigation, special agents learned that Haldeman had been accused of molesting two boys – ages 8 and 12 – when Haldeman was a teenager. The men had reported the abuse to the Pennsylvania State Police in 1998, but no charges resulted at that time. In sentencing Haldeman, U.S. District Judge Richard G. Andrews found the reports of Haldeman's physical sexual abuse suffered by these now adult men to be credible, and relied upon them in imposing sentence.

In written submissions and statements made in court, the government also noted that more than 20 years after his physical sexual abuse of these boys, Haldeman's child pornography collection and online conversations with other child sex offenders remained focused on images of the same types of sexual abuse and victims of the same age as the boys that he abused.

"This case is another example of the outstanding work being done by the Department of Homeland Security to identify and apprehend those who use the Internet to traffic in images of child sexual abuse and to network with other child sex offenders," said U.S. Attorney Charles M. Oberly III, District of Delaware. "I commend the special agents for their excellent work in uncovering Mr. Haldeman's crimes against children – both past and present."

HSI's ongoing efforts to target suspects involved in child exploitation offenses are part of 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. HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE 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 and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 o http://www.cybertipline.com.

This case was investigated by HSI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward J. McAndrew.