Jacksonville, Florida - United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that a federal jury yesterday found former Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) Corrections Officer Leon Perry Brooks, Sr. (40, Jacksonville) guilty of four counts of possession of child pornography. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison on each count. Brooks was indicted on Dec. 18, 2013. His sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, in January 2013, a JSO detective on the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force was able to download two child pornography videos from an IP address registered to Brooks. A search warrant was subsequently executed at his home, which resulted in the seizure of several computers. Two of these computers contained multiple videos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, in conjunction with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Diidri W. Robinson.
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 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 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.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
