McCook Man Sentenced to Ten Years in Prison for Distributing “Morphed” Image of Child Pornography

United States Attorney Deborah R. Gilg announced that Jeffrey A. Anderson, age 27 of McCook, Nebraska, was sentenced for distributing a morphed image of child pornography.  The Honorable John M. Gerrard sentenced Anderson to a ten year term of imprisonment.  There is no parole in the federal system.  After his release from prison Anderson will begin a 15 year term of supervised release.    

Anderson, using the name Bob Shepherd, sent a series of inappropriate messages on Facebook to an eleven year old girl.  When the girl’s mother discovered the messages she notified law enforcement. She allowed the Nebraska State Patrol’s Internet Crimes Against Children unit to take over her daughter’s Facebook account. 

The Nebraska State Patrol was able to retrieve messages and photographs Anderson had sent to the child.  One of the images depicted an adult male and an adult female engaged in sexual intercourse.  The image was manipulated by “morphing” the head and face of the eleven year old child over the head of the adult female making it appear that the adult male was engaging in intercourse with the eleven year old child.  The eleven year old’s face was clearly visible on the altered image.  The eleven year old girl was well known to Anderson.

Anderson admitted to using the alias Bob Shepherd.  He further admitted to sending the eleven year old messages and a photo of the child’s face on the body of a woman engaging in sexual relations with a male.  He was arrested by the Nebraska State Patrol. 

This case was investigated by Nebraska State Patrol 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 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 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.projectsafechildhood.gov.