Jacksonville, Florida – Chief U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan has sentenced Dennis Dewayne Jackson (39, Lake City) to 11 years and 6 months in federal prison for receiving visual depictions of child sexual abuse. The Court also ordered Jackson to serve a 20-year term of supervised release, to register as a sex offender, and to forfeit the phone that he had used to receive the images and videos of children being sexually abused. Jackson had pleaded guilty on March 9, 2022, and has been detained since his arrest on July 22, 2021.
Jackson’s older brother, John Thomas Jackson, was sentenced on January 27, 2022, to 20 years in federal prison for distributing visual depictions of child sexual abuse.
According to court documents, the FBI initiated an investigation of a private chat group that catered to people interested in sexual activity between daughters and daddies and in which files of child sexual abuse material were regularly shared. After identifying John Jackson, the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI executed a search warrant at the Jacksons’ residence in Lake City on July 4, 2021. While reviewing seized electronic devices, the FBI discovered that John Jackson was distributing videos of the sexual assault of children to his brother, Dennis Jackson. Further, the two had exchanged messages about the “need” to rape a 15-year-old child with whom John Jackson was communicating and of whom Dennis Jackson requested nude photos.
During a recorded interview, Dennis Jackson admitted to distributing and receiving child sexual abuse material for the last two years, and that he had received approximately 1,500 files of such material and distributed files dozens of times.
“The exploitation of children requires swift and intense law enforcement action,” said Sherri E. Onks, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Jacksonville Division. “We at the FBI are prepared to immediately respond whenever a child is at risk. Predators should heed this warning: the FBI, along with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners will stop at nothing to stop these heinous crimes and protect innocent children.”
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kelly S. Karase.
This is another case 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, 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.justice.gov/psc.