Jason Long Sentenced to 40 Years in Prison for Receiving Child Pornography and Sexually Exploiting a Child

Jason Long, age 36, of St. Charles Parish, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Helen G. Berrigan to 40 years in prison for receiving videos and images depicting the sexual victimization of children and, separately, recording sexually explicit images and videos of a child, announced United States Attorney Dana J. Boente. Judge Berrigan also ordered the defendant to pay $267,010 to one of the victims whose images he downloaded and at least $150,000 to another victim. After his term of imprisonment, Long will be placed on supervised release for the rest of his life.

According to court records, Long pleaded guilty on April 25, 2012, to receiving images depicting the sexual victimization of children. According to plea documents, the investigation began on October 17, 2011, when law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Long’s home. Evidence gathered at the home revealed that he had used his computers to access peer-to-peer file sharing programs and download approximately 232 pictures and 169 videos of children being victimized. Evidence demonstrated that Long searched for images depicting minors engaged in specific types of conduct to download. The images Long searched for and ultimately downloaded were of children as young as 6 years old engaged in a variety of sexually explicit conduct.

Court records also reflect that shortly after Long pleaded guilty to the above-described conduct, law enforcement officers learned that he had also previously recorded images and videos of himself sexually victimizing a toddler. Specifically, between 2006 and late 2007, Long recorded himself engaging in sexually explicit conduct with a child. He then sent the videos and photographs via the Internet to “Edd,” an individual located in the United Kingdom. As a result of this conduct, the defendant pleaded guilty to producing sexually exploitative images of a child.

This 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 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.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “Eesources.”

This case was investigated by special agents from the ICE-Homeland Security Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution of this case was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Ginsberg.