OXFORD, Miss — A DeSoto County, Mississippi, man convicted of sending out more than 400 images and videos of sexual abuse of children was sentenced to more than 17 years in federal prison Thursday.
According to an announcement from the Department of Justice, Jessie Edward Winters, 39, was sentenced to 17 and a half years for distributing child sexual abuse material through a mobile messaging app.
U.S. District Court Judge Sharion Aycock sentenced Winters to 210 months in federal prison for the offense to be followed by 10 years of supervised release. Restitution to victims depicted in the materials will be determined at a later hearing.
The investigation began after the Department of Homeland Security received information from the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children that a mobile messaging app user was distributing images and videos of child sexual abuse material.
Independently, the Oxford Police Department received similar information from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The agencies coordinated an investigation that revealed Winters used the app on his phone to engage with other users in a chat group in distributing and receiving the material. Winters possessed over 200 images and 200 videos, some involving prepubescent children.
“The distribution of child pornography is a particularly reprehensible crime, and the defendant deserves every minute of every day of this sentence,” said U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner. “This conviction and sentence highlight the combined efforts of our state and local partners with federal investigators and prosecutors to hold accountable those who take pleasure in the sexual abuse of children.”
The D.O.J. said the prosecution was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
