Earl Frederic Owens, Distributing Child Sexual Abuse Images, Florida 2020

A Jacksonville man has been sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison for distributing child sex abuse images using the Kik social media application.

Earl Frederic Owens, 33, was sentenced by United States District Judge Marcia Morales Howard to eight years and nine months in federal prison for distributing child sex abuse images using the Kik app. Owens was also ordered to serve a 10-year term of supervised release, register as a sex offender, and pay $3,000 in restitution to a child victim.

Owens had pleaded guilty on November 17, 2020. Evidence and court documents revealed that the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Cyber Crimes Center received a report from Kik, a social messaging app, that several different user accounts had uploaded images depicting the sexual exploitation of children using the Kik app.

Further investigation revealed that these materials were distributed online from an apartment in Jacksonville, where Owens lived. On November 19, 2019, HSI agents executed a search warrant at Owens’s apartment. During an interview with agents, Owens admitted that he uses the Kik app to chat with strangers about his “urges,” he has an interest in “pedophilia,” and that he traded child sex abuse materials with others online using the Kik app.

A forensic examination of Owens’s computer devices revealed that Owens had collected at least 2,149 images and 23 videos depicting young children being sexually abused. Online chat conversations were recovered from Owens’s smartphone showing that he had offered to pay an individual for nude pictures of underage girls. Several stories authored by Owens were recovered in which he had described, in graphic detail, the sexual assault and molestation of young children.

“The exploitation of innocent children has no place in our communities and we will vigorously pursue prosecution of anyone involved in the production, distribution, or possession of child pornography to the fullest extent of the law,” said HSI Jacksonville Assistant Special Agent in Charge K. Jim Phillips. “This case highlights how important the law enforcement partnerships between HSI Jacksonville, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, and the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office are in order to protect our children.”

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, and the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown. The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

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