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Press Release

Nashville Man Sentenced To 105 Years In Prison For Child Pornography Crimes

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Tennessee

Crimes involved Infant and Toddler
Defendant Dressed as Spider-Man Window Washer at Children’s Hospital

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – April 16, 2018 – Jarratt A. Turner, 36, of Nashville, Tennessee was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 105 years in prison for multiple instances of production of child pornography and transportation of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Don Cochran for the Middle District of Tennessee. 

“The sentence imposed by the Court should insure that this defendant will never have another opportunity to inflict his perverted sexual desires upon another innocent child,” said U.S. Attorney Cochran. 

            According to court records, Turner befriended two different families who had very young children, including a toddler boy and an infant girl, and he offered to babysit these children. Between October 2014 and May 2015, Turner took sexually explicit images and videos of the toddler girl on 10 different occasions and of the infant boy on six different occasions, while in his basement apartment in Nashville. The sexually explicit material included depictions of himself sexually molesting the two very young children, who were between the ages of 12 and 31 months during this period. After making these recordings, Turner distributed these images via the internet to other like-minded individuals and in an attempt to avoid detection of law enforcement, he only used publicly available Wi-Fi networks to collect and distribute child pornography. With the help of a manager of a business where Turner frequently accessed the internet, law enforcement officers were able to identify the defendant more quickly.

            Court records also reference Turner’s characteristic behavior in attempting to access other vulnerable children by dressing as Spiderman when washing windows at a local children’s hospital, during the time he was raping these children. 

“Children of this community are a little safer today with this sexual predator behind bars,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Robert Hammer, who oversees Homeland Security Investigation’s operations in Tennessee.  “The fact he would film, and then upload to the internet, videos of himself molesting an infant and toddler, then take elaborate steps to conceal his activities, represents the extreme danger he posed to the community.”

            Turner was charged on June 1, 2015, with 16 counts of Production of Child Pornography and Transportation of Child Pornography. He pleaded guilty to all counts of the indictment on March 20, 3017. He was sentenced today by visiting U.S. District Court Judge Marvin E. Aspen.

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.  Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices - Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood 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.justice.gov/psc.

            This matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney S. Carran Daughtrey.

Updated April 16, 2018

Topic
Project Safe Childhood