Jacksonville Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Charge of Receiving Child Pornography Over the Internet

JACKSONVILLE, FL—United States Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announced today that Zacchaeus Andrew Crawford (25, Jacksonville) pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Jacksonville to a charge of receiving child pornography over the Internet. Crawford faces a mandatory minimum sentence of not less than five years and up to 20 years in federal prison and a potential life term of supervised release. Crawford has been in custody since his arrest on August 19, 2011 in Jacksonville.

According to court documents, an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Phoenix, Arizona signed into a particular Internet file-sharing program in an undercover capacity to identify individuals who were trafficking and sharing child pornography. The agent determined that an individual using the username “Slidenskate” was logged into the network. The agent browsed “Slidenskate’s” shared directories and found that multiple images depicting child pornography were being publicly shared by “Slidenskate.” A few days later, the same FBI agent logged onto the same Internet file-sharing program and observed that the user “Slidenskate” was logged into the network. The agent downloaded 168 image files and 16 video files directly from two of “Slidenskate’s” three shared directories. Many of these images and videos depicted child pornography. Further investigation revealed that the host computer used by “Slidenskate” was located at a particular residence in Jacksonville where Crawford lived.

According to court documents, a federal search warrant was executed on Crawford’s residence in Jacksonville and agents seized a desktop computer used by Crawford. During an interview, Crawford admitted that he had downloaded images of child pornography. Crawford stated that he “had a feeling” that he “would be in jail for a few years.”

According to court documents, subsequent forensic analysis of Crawford’s computer revealed two internal hard drives that contained approximately 205,000 image files including at least 500 images and at least 100 videos depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Jacksonville and Phoenix, Arizona. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

The case was 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 the 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 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.projectsafechildhood.gov. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov and click on the tab “other resources.”