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Press Release

North Charleston Man Sentenced to 30 Years in Federal Prison for Production of Child Pornography

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of South Carolina

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA — Jonathan Reece Scarborough, 36, of North Charleston, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to production of child pornography.

Evidence presented to the Court showed that on September 25, 2019, the North Charleston Police Department was contacted regarding a 10-year-old prepubescent female victim who had reported being sexually abused by Jonathan Reece Scarborough.

During the investigation, law enforcement officers obtained and executed search warrants at Scarborough’s residence in North Charleston, his cell phone, and his laptop. Computer forensics examiners searched Scarborough’s cell phone and laptop and found images and a video of him sexually abusing the minor female victim. The examiners also found hundreds of child pornography images Scarborough obtained from the internet, including images of prepubescent and pubescent minors being sexually assaulted by adults.

United States District Judge Bruce Howe Hendricks sentenced Jonathan Reece Scarborough to 360 months in prison, to be followed by a lifetime term of court-ordered supervision.  There is no parole in the federal system.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the North Charleston Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Dean H. Secor is prosecuting the case.

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Contact

Brook Andrews, First Assistant United States Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Brook.Andrews@usdoj.gov, (803) 929-3000

Updated February 2, 2023

Topic
Project Safe Childhood