Jacksonville Man Indicted on Federal Charge of Production of Child Pornography

JACKSONVILLE—U.S. Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announces the return of an indictment charging James Daniel Kasper (29, Jacksonville) with production of child pornography. If convicted, Kasper faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years and up to 30 years in federal prison. Kasper was arrested on March 20, 2013, on a criminal complaint and ordered detained by United States Magistrate Judge Joel B. Toomey after a hearing on March 25, 2013.

According to the criminal complaint, in February 2013, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were investigating individuals engaged in trading child pornography. The investigation revealed the exchange of e-mails with attached images and videos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Specifically, agents determined that on February 4, 2013, an individual using a particular e-mail account had sent images depicting child pornography to another person. Further investigation determined that this e-mail account and the Internet protocol (IP) address used to send the e-mails resolved back to Kasper’s Jacksonville residence. On March 20, 2013, a federal search warrant was executed at Kasper’s apartment. During an interview, Kasper indicated, among other things, that while babysitting a minor several months prior, he used his smartphone to photograph the minor child’s genitalia. He then uploaded the images to a particular Internet website and sent the pictures via e-mail.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the Florida Department of Children and Families. 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 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.justice.gov/psc.