Jacksonville Man Arrested And Indicted For Distributing Child Sex Abuse Videos

Jacksonville, Florida – Acting United States Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow announced today that Pryce Elijah Demars (24, Jacksonville) has been arrested and indicted by a federal grand jury for distribution of child pornography. He faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 5 years, up to 20 years, in federal prison and a potential lifetime of supervision. Demars has been detained pending his trial on January 2, 2018.

According to court documents, on November 15, 2017, FBI agents and local police officers executed a federal search warrant at Demars’s Jacksonville residence, in connection with a child exploitation investigation into online users of a particular file-sharing program. FBI agents determined that from August 3, 2016, through April 12, 2017, Demars had distributed videos depicting young children being sexually abused to other individuals using a computer over the Internet. During an interview, Demars admitted that he had searched for child pornography on the Internet, downloaded it, and distributed it to another individual in exchange for video games and other items of value. 

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, and the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

It is another case 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, 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.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."