Former Navy Corpsman Sentenced to 30 Years for Distribution of Child Pornography
NORFOLK, Va. – Jakob Benjamin Lee, 26, of Norfolk, Va., was sentenced today to 30 years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for distributing child pornography.
Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Alex J. Turner, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Norfolk Division, made the announcement after Lee was sentenced by Senior United States District Judge Henry Coke Morgan, Jr. Lee pleaded guilty to two counts of distribution of child pornography on March 8, 2011.
According to court documents, Lee was identified by the FBI when he distributed child pornography to an undercover agent via the Internet and bragged online to the agent about molesting children. As a result of a search warrant, FBI found that Lee possessed thousands of images of child pornography. In addition, court documents revealed that Lee also admitted to molesting over 25 children.
This case was investigated by the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth Yusi prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
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. 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 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.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at www.justice.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.uspci.uscourts.gov.
