Mannford Man Sentenced for Sending Sexually Explicit Pictures to Individual He Believed Was a Minor

A man who thought he was sending sexually explicit pictures to a 15-year-old runaway, but instead was communicating with an undercover investigator, was sentenced in federal court, announced U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson.

U.S. District Judge Claire V. Eagan sentenced Johnny Wayne Rose Jr., 41, of Mannford, to 78 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. 

In October 2021, Rose Jr. pleaded guilty to attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor. In his plea agreement, Rose Jr. admitted that he used his cell phone, Facebook, and Kik to converse with an individual he believed was a 15-year-old female runaway who was addicted to methamphetamine. In those conversations, he attempted to convince the individual he believed to be a minor to meet for sex and offered to provide methamphetamine to the “minor.” He also asked for topless photographs from the “minor” and sent sexually explicit photographs of himself. Instead of speaking to a minor female, Rose Jr. was unknowingly communicating with an undercover investigator from the Rogers County Sheriff’s Office. The communications and photographs Rose Jr. sent constituted the attempted transfer of obscene material to an individual he believed was 15 years of age. The communications occurred between Feb. 25, 2021, and March 5, 2021.

This case was brought as part of Operation Clean Sweep, a four-month long operation that concentrated law enforcement efforts on counteracting the spike in internet facilitated child-exploitation crimes in the Northern District of Oklahoma. The operation was carried out in partnership with more than a dozen local, state, tribal and federal law enforcement agencies. This case was also brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, 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.

The Rogers County Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Nassar prosecuted the case