Jacksonville, Florida - Acting United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces the arrest and charge by criminal complaint of John Dewey Todd (60, Fernandina Beach) for producing and attempting to produce child pornography. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years, up to 30 years in federal prison.
According to the complaint, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations and Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at the residence of Todd on Nov. 15, 2013, in Fernandina Beach, Florida. During the execution of the warrant, Todd voluntarily spoke with law enforcement and admitted to collecting child pornography for the past “couple years." Todd explained that he saves his child pornography on two computers, discs, thumb drives and external hard drives. Law enforcement seized electronic media during their search and a preliminary examination of some of the seized materials revealed that they contained at least 12,000 files of child pornography.
During a forensic examination of one thumb drive seized during the search, law enforcement recovered three videos of suspected child pornography. Two of the videos depict Todd adjusting a video camera that appears to be concealed in a plant or planter, focused on a bathtub. Two minor, prepubescent females are recorded with their genitalia displayed.
A criminal complaint is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of the federal criminal laws, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, with the assistance from the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kelly S. Karase.
It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the 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 locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov and click on the tab "other resources."
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
