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Press Release
Tampa, FL – U.S. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell today sentenced Jonathan Patrick Gregory Peterson (33, Clearwater) to 12 years and 7 months in federal prison for receiving and distributing child pornography. The Court also ordered him to forfeit a Sony PlayStation 3, several hard drives, and two cell phones, which he used to commit the offenses. Peterson pleaded guilty on March 3, 2015.
According to court documents, from at least October 2010, through his arrest in August 2014, Peterson actively traded pornographic images of infants and toddlers through various e-mail accounts. FBI agents identified Peterson after he tried to exchange images and videos depicting child pornography with an undercover officer. When Peterson was arrested, he admitted to trading child pornography over the Internet using his cell phone and PlayStation 3 console. A forensic examination showed that Peterson possessed more than 9,000 images of child pornography on his various devices at the time of his arrest.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Largo Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Josephine W. Thomas.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.