United States Attorney Deborah R. Gilg announced that Darrell W. Jenkins, 42, formerly of Ansley, Nebraska, was sentenced today in Lincoln, Nebraska, to 17 years in prison by United States District Judge John M. Gerrard, for receiving child pornography. Following his release from prison, Jenkins will serve 17 years on supervised release and continue to be required to register as a sex offender. Jenkins was previously convicted in 2005 of Third Degree Sexual Assault in Custer County, Nebraska.
In April of 2015, the Nebraska State Patrol was contacted by the Alliance Police Department after receiving information that Jenkins had been sending sexual text messages to a 14 year old minor via Facebook. Officers of the Alliance Police Department provided the State Patrol with Jenkins’s Facebook account information and IP logs for a specific date range during which time an undercover officer had communicated with Jenkins, while posing as the minor victim. During this time, Jenkins communicated lewd, lascivious or obscene language or sound to the officer posing as the minor. Investigation determined that the IP address was assigned to Jenkin’s residence in Ansley, Nebraska.
A search warrant was executed at the residence and investigators took possession of Jenkins’ electronic devices and after further forensic examination identified 37 videos and 46 pictures of child pornography.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. 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.
This case was investigated by the Alliance Police Department and the Nebraska State Patrol.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
