Seattle – A 44-year-old Seattle man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to ten years in prison for possession of images of child rape and abuse, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Jason Alan Legg was on probation for the rapes of two 13-year-olds when a Washington State Department of Corrections investigation determined he had electronic devices containing images of child rape and abuse. This was Legg’s third sentencing for sex crimes related to children. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge James L. Robart said, “This is not a victimless crime. These are real people and it has tremendous impact on their lives… It is a pervasive destruction of their lives taking place at an early age.”
According to records filed in the case, in 1998 Legg was first convicted in the Middle District Georgia of shipping and transporting child pornography. He was sentenced to 41 months in prison. In 2004, he was convicted in King County, Washington, of two counts of rape of a child and possession of images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Legg admitted he used community chat lines to find minors who he could groom for sexual activity. Legg was sentenced to ten years in prison. He was ordered to be on probation for the rest of his life.
In December 2018, Legg’s Community Corrections Officer learned he had unapproved electronic devices. Legg had been ordered to have monitoring software on all his devices. A search of his apartment in Seattle turned up a cell phone that did not have monitoring software. Legg had also hidden a flash drive in a hockey mask in his apartment. On the phone and the flash drive were some 44 images of child rape and sex abuse.
Legg pleaded guilty in July 2022. Both the prosecution and defense recommended the mandatory minimum sentenced of ten years in prison. Legg will be on federal supervision for 15 years following his prison term.
Judge Robart ordered Legg to pay $6,000 in restitution to the victims in the images he possessed.
The case was investigated by the Washington State Department of Corrections and Homeland Security Investigations.
The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Laura Harmon. Ms. Harmon is a Senior King County Deputy Prosecutor specially designated to prosecute child exploitation crimes in federal court.