Independence Man Sentenced to 12 Years for Child Pornography

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that an Independence, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for distributing child pornography.

Eric A. Jackson, 53, of Independence, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to 12 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Jackson to supervised release for the rest of his life following incarceration.

Jackson, who pleaded guilty on Jan. 6, 2017, admitted that he sent images of child pornography to a 16-year-old female in Illinois. An aunt discovered the images on her niece’s cell phone and made a report to the Schuyler County, Ill., Sheriff’s Department. Among the pornographic images sent by Jackson was a 10-year-old female who was “hog tied.”

The 16-year-old to whom Jackson sent the child pornography images told investigators they had been communicating via social media for approximately a year, and had exchanged nude photos of each other.

Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Jackson’s residence and seized a Samsung tablet and a Samsung cell phone. Examiners found 1,028 photos and 130 videos of child pornography on the devices, including the recurring graphic depictions of the rape and sodomy of prepubescent girls, some as young as babies and toddlers, by adult men. Jackson was a prolific distributor of those disturbing images who actively shared them with many other child pornographers utilizing the Kik Messenger app. In online conversations with other child pornographers, according to court documents, Jackson bragged of his experience raping and molesting young children.

Examiners found evidence that Jackson had sent more than 70 attachments to the juvenile victim, which included both adult and child pornography. Examiners also found evidence that Jackson engaged in sexually graphic conversations through numerous text messages with other individuals, who represented themselves as minor females, including one who believed she was in a relationship with Jackson and who expressly shared a mutual desire to meet in person and engage in sexual contact.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Luna. It was investigated by the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force and the Schuyler County, Ill., Sheriff’s Department.

Project Safe Childhood

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."