ATLANTA - Jeff Clouse has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for producing and distributing child pornography via the Internet. Clouse possessed and actively traded child pornography on the Internet.
“Clouse created a series of vile videos depicting a mother sexually abusing her own young children," said Acting U.S. Attorney John Horn. “He further exploited these children by trading the videos for more child pornography. This is simply one of those cases that defies any explanation, and it is difficult to quantify the pain and suffering his conduct caused. But it reinforces our commitment to bring justice those who victimize children by producing child pornography."
“This case exemplifies the international nature of the modern child pornography trade," said Special Agent in Charge Nick S. Annan, head of ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Atlanta. “The defendant sexually exploited a mother and her young daughters in the Philippines via a webcam. He then traded recordings of that abuse with others for additional child pornography on a Russian file sharing site. As we learn more and more in these investigations, the fight against child pornography is clearly global in nature, and HSI is well positioned to follow the threads of these international networks and hold child predators accountable for their crimes against the innocent."
According to Acting U.S. Attorney Horn, the charges and other information presented in court: In January 2012, agents with the Department of Homeland Security in Phoenix, Arizona, initiated an investigation into an individual using a Russian file sharing website to trade child pornography. During a forensic review of the individual’s computer, Phoenix agents found that their target was exchanging child pornography with an email address in Atlanta, Georgia. A subsequent investigation revealed that this email address was associated with Jeff Clouse in Conyers, Georgia.
On Feb. 15, 2013, agents went to Clouse’s home and explained that child pornography had been sent to an email address associated with him. Clouse admitted that he possessed thousands of images of child pornography and actively traded child pornography on the Internet. Clouse then directed the agents to the areas on his computer where he kept the images.
As agents reviewed Clouse’s email accounts, they found hundreds of images and videos containing child pornography, including videos that appeared to have been made with a web camera and “streamed" over the Internet. In the videos, a woman performed sexual acts on her minor daughters while Clouse directed her on a live video link. From chat logs found on Clouse’s computer, it appears that this woman lived in the Philippines and that the small children were her daughters.
After these videos were identified, Clouse agreed to speak with agents about the items found on his computer. In that interview, Clouse admitted he met the woman in the videos online in a chat room and that she created the child pornography at his direction using a web camera on her computer. The videos were made in the Philippines and transmitted over the Internet to Clouse in the United States, who then saved them on his computer so that he could view and trade the images at a later time. Clouse said that the two girls who were sexually abused in the videos were the woman’s minor daughters who were 6 and 8 years old.
A forensic review of his computer showed that Clouse subsequently distributed these videos to other individuals who were seeking child pornography. For Clouse, the videos became a kind of currency by which he could obtain more child pornography from other pedophiles. The forensic review also revealed that Clouse had been grooming at least one other minor during this same time.
On Tuesday, August 4, 2015, the Court sentenced Jeff Clouse, 47, of Conyers, Georgia, to 20 years in prison to be followed by 50 years of supervised release, and ordered him to pay restitution in the amount of $16,000. Clouse was convicted on these charges on June 12, 2014, after he pleaded guilty.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.
Assistant United States Attorney Kurt R. Erskine prosecuted the case.
This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, the Attorney General launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices around the country, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
