Supervisory U.S. Border Patrol Agent Arrested on Federal Child Pornography Charge

ALBUQUERQUE – Jason Christopher Davis, 45, of Las Cruces, N.M., made his initial appearance today in federal court on a criminal complaint charging him with receipt of material containing or constituting child pornography.  Davis, who is employed as a Supervisory U.S. Border Patrol Agent, remains in federal custody pending a preliminary hearing and a detention hearing, which are scheduled for May 23, 2018.

The criminal complaint alleges that Davis received child pornography in April 2018, in Dona Ana County, N.M.  According to the complaint, the Las Cruces Police Department executed a search warrant on an email account subscribed to Davis that allegedly was used to upload a video file containing child pornography.  The complaint further alleges that on May 15, 2018, Homeland Security Investigations and the Las Cruces Police Department seized numerous items including digital media while executing a state search warrant at Davis’ residence.

The statutory penalty for a conviction on a receipt of child pornography charge is a statutory mandatory minimum penalty of five years and maximum penalty of 20 years of imprisonment.  Charges in criminal complaints are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless found guilty in a court of law.

The case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of HSI, the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the Las Cruces Police Department with assistance from the Office of Professional Responsibility of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Management Inquiry Team of the U.S. Border Patrol, the FBI, and the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa A. Ong of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office is prosecuting the case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and DOJ’s Criminal Division’s 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 information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.  Individuals with information relating to suspected child predators and suspected child abuse are encouraged to contact the Children’s Advocacy Center at (575) 526-3437, or to contact Homeland Security Investigations at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE.

The case also was brought as a part of the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force’s mission, which is to locate, track, and capture Internet child sexual predators and Internet child pornographers in New Mexico.  There are 86 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies associated with the New Mexico ICAC Task Force, which is funded by a grant administered by the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office.  Anyone with information relating to suspected child predators and suspected child abuse is encouraged to contact federal or local law enforcement.