Jacksonville Man Pleads Guilty To Advertising For Child Pornography

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that Chad Jason Lansford (31, Jacksonville) has pleaded guilty to advertising for child pornography. He faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 15 years, up to 30 years, in federal prison. Lansford has been in federal custody since his arrest on March 12, 2015.   

According to court documents, in January 2015, law enforcement officers responded to a complaint involving the mother of a nine-year-old girl who had found several sexually explicit images on her daughter’s social media account, including two images of her daughter. A review of the child’s iPod revealed online conversations between the girl and an individual later identified as Lansford. Further investigation revealed that on January 2, 2015, Lansford had sent the child images of his genitalia. During an online conversation that day, Lansford was advised that the child was nine years old. Despite this knowledge, he repeatedly requested that she take pornographic pictures of herself and send them to him. Eventually, the child complied with Lansford’s demands and produced and sent pornographic pictures of herself to him.

On March 12, 2015, law enforcement officers executed a federal search warrant at Lansford’s apartment. He was at the residence and admitted that he was the person who had engaged in the online conversations with the child. 

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

It is another case 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 United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.justice.gov/psc.