South Idaho man sentenced for exchanging child pornography on Craigslist
BOISE, Idaho – A Jerome man was sentenced in federal court Sept. 1 to 63 months in prison and five years of supervised release for possession of child pornography, following a probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
Patrick Lee Jewell, 34, admitted to communicating with an individual on Craigslist via email regarding the exchange of child pornography images in November and December 2013. According to court documents, HSI special agents executed search warrants at Jewell’s residence in February 2014.
Jewell pleaded guilty April 7, admitting he possessed child pornography images in his email account and cell phone. As part of the plea, Jewell agreed to forfeit the phone and laptop used in the commission of the charged offense. Jewell will be required to register as a sex offender.
“Each year, HSI opens thousands of child exploitation cases nationally with the help of our phenomenal undercover agents,” said Steve Cagen, acting special agent in charge of HSI Seattle. “We are relentless in our pursuit to end this dreadful crime and will continue to seek justice for these innocent child victims.”
The charges in this case are a product of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative launched in 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, and HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators.
Led by the U.S. 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.
Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 14,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2015, nearly 2,400 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 1,000 victims identified or rescued.
For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI’s Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.
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