Oklahoma City Daycare Worker and Babysitter Sentenced to 30 Years for Producing Child Pornography

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma –  JASON MARC JANATSCH, 26, of Oklahoma City, was sentenced today to 30 years’ imprisonment for producing child pornography depicting an approximately 18-month-old toddler whom he babysat, announced Mark A. Yancey, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.  

According to court records, in September 2015, undercover Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents downloaded child pornography via Kik, a smartphone instant messaging application, from a man in Christchurch, New Zealand.  After New Zealand authorities located the man, forensic analysis of his Kik account revealed that he had exchanged child pornography with a Kik user with the screen name "TheLoverOfTheLittle."   HSI agents in the United States traced this Kik screen name to Janatsch, who worked at an Oklahoma City daycare center.  Janatsch also freelanced as a babysitter who advertised his services on www.sitter.com and www.care.com.

Janatsch was indicted by a federal grand jury on January 6, 2016.  During the plea hearing on February 29, 2016, before United States District Judge Stephen P. Friot, Janatsch admitted that on June 11, 2015, he used a female toddler whom he was babysitting to engage in sexually explicit conduct and took photographs with his iPhone.  Janatsch had used an online babysitting service to gain access to the child.  Then Janatsch, using his iPhone, transmitted the photographs to the New Zealand man.  According to court records, he also received child pornography from the New Zealand man in return.  In sentencing Janatsch, Judge Friot took into consideration evidence that he had also molested a three-year-old girl on a previous occasion and had performed Google searches using queries such as "having sex with a special needs child" and "how do I adopt a baby."

After serving his sentence, Janatsch will be required to register as a sex offender and will be on supervised release for life.  The court also ordered Janatsch to pay a $5,000 special assessment under the Justice For Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015.

This case is the result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations and the New Zealand Police Online Child Exploitation Across New Zealand team.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Hale, Project Safe Childhood Coordinator.