Anchorage Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Distribution of Child Pornography

Anchorage, Alaska – U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder announced today that an Anchorage man was sentenced in federal court to 20 years for distributing child pornography.

Jay Leavitt, 27, of Anchorage, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason to serve 20 years in prison. Upon release, Leavitt will be under supervised release for the remainder of his lifetime.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonas Walker, Leavitt was previously sentenced in state court to three years of active imprisonment for attempted sexual abuse of a minor. Shortly after being released, Leavitt began distributing child pornography using a smartphone, even though he was under probation supervision.

Specifically, between March 27, 2017, and April 7, 2017, Leavitt used a computer to upload 55 images to his Twitter and Gmail accounts, and eight video clips, knowing that those images and videos depicted minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Leavitt’s state probation supervision included polygraph examinations, also known as lie-detector tests. Leavitt successfully deceived a lie detector test by falsely denying committing the new offense.

Judge Gleason remarked that the 20-year sentence was imposed due to the seriousness of the crime. The Court considered the victim-impact statements presented by victims of child pornography and their guardians.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Anchorage Police Department (APD) conducted the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of this case.

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 combines federal, state and local resources to better identify, 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.