Anna, Ohio Man Pleads Guilty to Creating Pornography From Rape of Infant, Child & 10 Teens

EDITOR'S NOTE:  While largely kept under the radar by most of the "main stream" media, child sex trafficking and exploitation is rampant in this country and around the world.

DAYTON, Ohio – Robert Steven Jones, 29, of Anna, Ohio, pleaded guilty to 11 charges involving the sexual exploitation of minors, including an infant and a seven-year-old girl.

Specifically, he pleaded guilty to eight counts of production of child pornography, two counts of coercion and enticement of a minor and commission of a felony offense involving a minor while being registered as a sex offender.

Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio and Angela L. Byers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, announced the plea entered into today before Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Rose.

According to the Statement of Facts in this case, while living in Illinois in 2013, Jones recorded himself masturbating and committing other sexual acts on and with a seven-month-old infant. The nearly five-minute video also depicts Jones engaging in acts of physical violence with the baby – including slapping, punching, shaking, restraining and suffocating the infant.

In the same week, Jones recorded a second video, this one approximately 10 minutes in length. This video further depicts Jones holding the baby up to the camera while smothering and choking the infant to such an extent that the baby slowly became limp and turned a blueish color, apparently unconscious.

After making comments such as “You want to see a baby pass the f*** out?” Jones then throws the baby.

In June 2014, Jones moved to Ohio, residing in Sidney, Piqua and later Anna.

Jones engaged in prohibited sexual acts on at least two occasions in July 2015 with a seven-year-old female at his residence in Ohio, and produced two videos of the conduct on his cell phone.

In August 2015, law enforcement officers discovered the videos on Jones’s cell phone while executing a search warrant at his home.

Also according to the Statement of Facts, Jones met with and/or communicated with at least nine other victims, aged 13 years to 16 years, for the purpose of engaging in prohibited sexual acts and creating child pornography. This included victims living in other states such as New York and Tennessee.

Jones faces at least 10 years up to life in prison for each coercion and enticement charge. Production of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a potential maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. Committing a felony offense involving a minor while being required to register as a sex offender carries a mandatory 10-year sentence, to run consecutive to any other sentence.

Jones was arrested on November 4, 2015 by criminal complaint and he has remained in custody since. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in February 2016.

This case resulted from the national FBI investigation “Operation Pacifier” which involved the takedown of a “dark web” site dedicated to child pornography. Using a court-approved Network Investigative Technique to pierce through the anonymity provided by the Tor network, agents uncovered IP addresses and other information that helped locate and identify users. Investigators sent more than 1,000 leads to FBI field offices in every state in the country and thousands more to oversees partners.

As a result of the investigation, at least 350 U.S.-based individuals have been arrested, 25 producers of child pornography have been prosecuted, 51 alleged hands-on abusers have been prosecuted and 55 American children who were subjected to sexual abuse have been successfully identified or rescued.

“This case is another example of law enforcement adapting to technological advances on the dark web in order to find offenders and bring them to justice,” U.S. Attorney Glassman said.

U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the investigation of this case by the FBI, as well as First Assistant United States Attorney Vipal J. Patel and Assistant United States Attorneys Amy M. Smith and Andrew J. Hunt, who are prosecuting the case.