Philadelphia Pastor Pleads Guilty to Child Sexual Exploitation Charges

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Bryan Jackson, 42, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, entered a plea of guilty before United States District Judge Joel H. Slomsky yesterday afternoon to conspiracy to manufacture child pornography, manufacture and attempted manufacture of child pornography, and receipt of child pornography, charges arising from his and a co-conspirator’s sexual exploitation of an underage boy.

The defendant was arrested on a criminal complaint and warrant in June of this year and charged by information in September. With today’s plea, he has waived prosecution by indictment.

As detailed in court filings and statements, Jackson and the co-conspirator enticed and directed Minor 1, who was under the age of 18, to photograph and video record himself engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

As further detailed, the defendant and his co-conspirator deceived Minor 1 into believing that he was communicating with an older girl, in order to induce Minor 1 into producing child sexual abuse material (“CSAM”), which the conspirators then shared with each other.

In addition, from about November 22, 2025, through about May 28, 2026, Jackson knowingly received visual depictions whose production involved the use of a second minor, Minor 2, engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced on February 19 and faces a maximum possible term of 80 years in prison. 

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, 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 projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case was investigated by the Philadelphia Police Department Special Victims Unit and Homeland Security Investigations and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Branwen McNabb O’Donnell.