Norfolk Man Pleads Guilty to Distribution of Child Pornography

NORFOLK, VA—Jakob Benjamin Lee, 25, of Norfolk, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to two counts of distribution of child pornography.

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by Senior United States District Judge Henry Coke Morgan, Jr. Lee is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 12, 2011, and faces a mandatory minimum of five years and a maximum term of 20 years in prison.

According to court documents, Lee was identified by the FBI when he distributed child pornography to an undercover agent via the Internet. After bragging online to the agent about molesting children, the FBI found that Lee possessed many images of child pornography.

This case was investigated by the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth Yusi is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

This case was brought 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.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at www.justice.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.