Sex Offender Sentenced to 15 Years for Trading Child Pornography

BOSTON – A previously convicted sex offender was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Boston today in connection with receiving thousands of child exploitation videos.

Derrick Jones, 45, of Arlington, was sentenced today by U.S. District Court William G. Young to 15 years in prison, 10 years of supervised release and will be required to register as a sex offender upon release from prison.  In January 2016, Jones pleaded guilty to receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography.  

Jones used file sharing computer programs to trade and receive images of child pornography and also downloaded and viewed images and videos of children ranging in age from infants to minors under the age of 18, being sexually exploited.  Jones maintained a collection of 34,000 images and approximately 13,000 videos of child pornography.  In 2005, Jones was convicted of two counts of possession of child pornography.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Matthew Etre, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; and Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson, made the announcement today.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanne Sullivan Jacobus of Ortiz's Major Crimes Unit.

The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood.  In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse.  Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’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, as well as identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.