Russellville Man Sentenced to 17.5 Years in Federal Prison for Attempted Production of Child Pornography

      LITTLE ROCK—Jackson Whitt will spend 210 months in federal prison for attempted production of child pornography. Jonathan D. Ross, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, announced the sentence, which was handed down today by United States District Judge James M. Moody, Jr.

      On May 7, 2024, Whitt, 29, of Russellville, was indicted by a federal grand jury on 17 counts of attempted production of child pornography, five counts of receipt of child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography. On February 6, 2025, Whitt pleaded guilty to attempted production of child pornography. Judge Moody also sentenced Whitt to 10 years’ supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

      An investigation revealed that on January 18, 2024, a parent contacted local law enforcement stating that her high school daughter allowed her friend, whose phone was broken, to borrow her phone to log into her Instagram account. The mother stated that when the daughter received the phone back from her friend, she noticed the Instagram account was still open under her friend’s account. The mother stated both she and her daughter observed explicit and obscene messages between the friend and an adult male, later identified as Whitt, on the Instagram account. Whitt had sent the minor victim numerous sexual images, videos, and messages. Whitt asked the minor victim to have phone sex with him and send him various photographs of her nude body parts.

      On January 25, 2024, law enforcement executed a search warrant for Whitt’s residence and seized multiple electronic evidence. Whitt’s cell phone contained approximately 150 different sexually explicit images of the minor victim and at least two videos. During an online chat with the minor victim, Whitt requested the minor victim send him videos of her engaged in sadistic sexual behavior for his own self-gratification. Whitt asked for photographs of the minor victim’s full body, her breasts, and her genitals. During a search of Whitt’s phone, investigators also observed several videos of child sexual abuse material of different children.

      This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice and led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), it 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, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov. Parents are encouraged to always monitor your children’s online activity.

      The investigation was conducted by U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with assistance from the Eufaula (Oklahoma) Police Department, Pope County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the Arkansas State Police. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kristin Bryant and Shelby Shelton.

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Additional information about the office of the

United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, is available online at

https://www.justice.gov/edar

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