Jacksonville Man Indicted on Federal Child Pornography Charges

JACKSONVILLE, FL—United States Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announces that a federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging John Carver Lester (61, Jacksonville) with three counts of receiving child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. If convicted, Lester faces a mandatory minimum of five years and up to 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine on each of the receipt counts. He faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine on the possession charge. Lester was arrested at his residence in Jacksonville on the evening of December 20, 2012, and is currently in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. Lester’s arraignment and detention are scheduled for December 27, 2012, at 10:00 a.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge James R. Klindt in Jacksonville.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

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 (CEOS), 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.projectsafechildhood.gov. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov and click on the tab “other resources.”