Toulon Man Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison for Production, Distribution and Possession of Child Pornography

PEORIA, Ill. – Jason R. Musselman, 35, of the 7400 block of Modena Road, in Toulon, Illinois, was sentenced on May 24, 2023, to 300 months in the Bureau of Prisons for producing child pornography, to be served consecutive to a 120-month prison sentence for distributing and possessing child pornography. In total, Musselman was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment, to be followed by a lifetime term of supervised release. He must also register as a sex offender once he is released. Musselman was also ordered to pay more than $60,000 in restitution to his victims. Four additional counts of production of child pornography were dismissed pursuant to Musselman’s guilty plea.

At the sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge James E. Shadid, the government presented evidence that agents with the Illinois State Police and Homeland Security Investigations executed a search warrant on Musselman, his residence, and his electronic devices on January 19, 2022 as part of an ongoing child pornography investigation. The government presented evidence that Musselman had produced numerous images of child pornography in his residence between approximately 2010 and 2013 by secretly recording videos of minors using a tanning bed in his home and then using the videos to create images that displayed the minors’ genitals in a lascivious manner. Musselman also distributed other images of child pornography on December 21, 2021, via the “Kik” internet messaging platform, including images of the sexual exploitation of prepubescent children. In total, Musselman possessed more than 600 images of child pornography.

Some of Musselman’s victims provided victim impact statements at the sentencing hearing. Judge Shadid praised their courage for appearing in court to present statements in Musselman’s presence and noted that Musselman’s crimes affected not only his victims, but also their families and communities.

Musselman was originally charged in Stark County, Illinois in January 2022 with nine separate counts relating to child pornography. The Stark County case was dismissed after Musselman was charged in federal court by a criminal complaint in March 2022. He entered into a plea agreement in November 2022.

The statutory penalties for sexual exploitation of a child (production of child pornography) are 15 to 30 years imprisonment. The penalties for distribution of child pornography are 5 to 20 years imprisonment, and possession of child pornography carries a sentence of not more than 10 years imprisonment. Each of the charges carries a supervised release term of at least 5 years following release from incarceration and a possible fine of up to $250,000.  

The Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Illinois State Police conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Washington Police Department and Stark County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Holst Schryer represented the government in the prosecution.

The case against Musselman was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative by the Department of Justice to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. 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.