Rockwall Man Indicted by Federal Grand Jury for Production of Child Pornography

FORT WORTH, Texas — Jon Anthony Terry, 28, of Rockwall, Texas, was charged in a federal indictment, returned today by a grand jury in Fort Worth, Texas, with four counts of production of child pornography and one count of possession of prepubescent child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox of the Northern District of Texas.

Terry is currently in custody on a related criminal complaint. A date has not yet been set for him to make his initial appearance.

The indictment alleges that, on one occasion in 2013 and three separate occasions in 2017, Terry induced three different prepubescent minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct while he recorded the conduct. The indictment also charges Terry with possessing images of child pornography in November 2017.

A federal indictment is an accusation by a grand jury and a defendant is entitled to the presumption of innocence unless proven guilty. If convicted, however, the statutory penalty for the production count is not less than 15 years or more than 30 years in prison and for the possession count, not more than 10 years in prison. Both counts also carry a fine of up to $250,000 and a term of supervised release of up to life.    

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood leverages federal, state and local resources to better investigate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children. Project Safe Childhood also prioritizes identifying and rescuing victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/. For more information about internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ and click on the tab “resources.”

The investigation is being conducted by the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Assistant U.S. Attorney Camille Sparks is in charge of the prosecution.

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