COLUMBIA, SC—United States Attorney Bill Nettles stated today that Andrew Stephen Jackson, age 44, of Florence, South Carolina was sentenced in federal court in Florence, for possession of child pornography, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(5)(B) and (b)(2) by United States District Judge R. Bryan Harwell of Florence. Jackson was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment to be followed by Supervised Release for Life, during which time Jackson will be required to: register as a sex offender, submit to polygraph examinations, submit to electronic monitoring and receive counseling. Jackson was also ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution to his victims.

Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing established that Jackson traded child pornography with an individual in Australia in October 2010. A search warrant was executed at Jackson’s residence and thousands of images of child pornography were found on Jackson’s computers.

The case was investigated by agents of the FBI. Assistant United States Attorney William E Day, II of the Columbia office prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims. For more information, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.