GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA – Jesse Roger Armstrong, 35, of Gainesville, Florida, was sentenced to ninety months in prison after previously pleading guilty to distribution of child pornography. The sentence was announced by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
U.S. Attorney Heekin said, “Our state and federal law enforcement partners are committed to identifying, investigating, and rooting out the scourge of exploitation and sexual abuse of children online, and my office will continue to back up those efforts with aggressive prosecutions of anyone found to be peddling in child sexual abuse material. Keeping our kids safe is the highest priority for my office, and it begins with sending predators like this defendant to prison.”
Court documents reflect that the defendant knowingly uploaded images of child pornography to the Internet while searching for additional child pornography. Detectives with the Gainesville Police Department also located additional files of child pornography and images of sexual bestiality on the defendant’s electronic devices at his residence. At the time of these offenses, Armstrong was completing his residency in the psychiatric division of a local hospital.
“Keeping our children safe online is a priority,” said Chief Nelson Moya, Gainesville Police Department. “We will continue to pursue anyone who chooses to prey on our children via the internet.”
“HSI is committed to protecting children from exploitation, especially when offenders are in trusted roles like physicians,” said Nick Ingegno, Assistant Special Agent in Charge for HSI in Tallahassee. “Abusing that trust is unacceptable, and we will continue working with our partners to hold these individuals accountable and safeguard our communities.”
The case involved a joint investigation by the Gainesville Police Department's Internet Crimes Against Children Unit and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Adam Hapner.
This case was 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 and led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), it 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.projectsafechildhood.gov .
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndfl .
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office — Northern District of Florida — U.S. Department of Justice press release.