Houston Man Sentenced to 40 Years for Child Sexual Exploitation, Obstruction

A convicted child sex offender was sentenced today to 40 years in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.

Jonathan Fitzpatrick Koen, 49, was indicted in December 2022 and went to trial in March 2023. A jury found him guilty of four counts of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of attempted obstruction of an official proceeding. He was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor, who ordered the defendant be subject to a lifetime of supervision following his incarceration.

“Children should never be subjected to such appalling abuse. HSI will do everything in our power to continue to remove these predators from our communities,” said HSI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Lester R. Hayes Jr. “This defendant’s lengthy sentence and lifetime of supervised release reflects the severity of his criminal offenses. HSI along with our law enforcement partners remain vigilant in the protection of our nation’s most vulnerable. ” 

According to evidence presented at trial, Mr. Koen recorded himself sexually assaulting a high-school-aged victim. 

Once the sexually explicit images and videos were discovered, Mr. Koen picked up the minor victim from her home and drove here through the United States and across the Canadian border before he was apprehended by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Mr. Koen also attempted to change his victim’s trial testimony in order to obtain an acquittal. He attempted to get the victim to testify that it was someone else who produced the videos and images he was charged with recording. 

Ultimately, the victim was consistent in her testimony, which was consistent with the evidence showing that Mr. Koen sexually assaulted the victim and recorded the videos and images found on his cellphone.

Homeland Security Investigations’ Dallas Field Office and the Fort Worth Police Department conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandie Wade and Levi Thomas prosecuted the case.