Chadron Man Sentenced for Production of Child Pornography

United States Attorney Deborah R. Gilg announced that Jesse Lucio, 39, formerly of Chadron, Nebraska, was sentenced today in Lincoln, Nebraska, to 19 years in prison by United States Senior District Judge Richard G. Kopf, for the production of child pornography.  Following his release from prison, Lucio will serve 10 years on supervised release and be required to register as a sex offender.

In September of 2015 the Chadron Police Department was informed of a possible sexual assault involving Lucio and a minor female victim.   The reporting party indicated to law enforcement that there was a video of Lucio and the minor female victim engaging in sexually explicit conduct on a tablet computer located at Lucio’s home.  The reporting party stated that she knew the age of the minor female victim and that she also saw Lucio in the video.  The tablet was later examined by law enforcement officials, including a forensic examination conducted by the FBI, and 2 videos were recovered on the tablet computer, both videos having been produced on September 12, 2015, in Chadron Nebraska, and depicting Lucio and the minor victim engaged in sexually explicit conduct as defined by federal law.

Lucio was interviewed by the Chadron Police Department and admitted to having sexual contact with the minor female victim and recording the sexually explicit conduct on the tablet computer. 

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.

This case was investigated by the Chadron Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.