A 45-year-old Auburn, Washington man, JEREMY JAMES CHERRY, has been sentenced to ten years in prison for possession of images of child rape and molestation. CHERRY used peer-to-peer software to share more than 2800 images of sexual assaults of children.
CHERRY has a prior conviction for rape of a child and attempted possession of child pornography in 2001 from King County Superior Court. He served eight years in prison and participated in sex offender treatment. However, in March 2018, a Seattle Police Department Detective identified CHERRY as the owner of a computer that shared the child pornography between August 2017 and March 2018.
At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge John C. Coughnour said he was imposing the ten-year sentence because of CHERRY’s prior hands-on offense against children. According to records filed in the case, CHERRY was 27 years old and acting as an in-home caregiver for three young children when one of them disclosed the sexual molestation.
CHERRY pleaded guilty to rape of a child and to attempted possession of child pornography. He served eight years in prison. CHERRY admitted that after sex offender treatment between 2010 and 2013, and once he completed his community supervision, he began seeking out child pornography again.
CHERRY was identified as part of Operation Broken Heart, which resulted in the arrest of more than 2,300 suspected online child sex offenders during a three-month, nationwide operation conducted by 61 Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces. During March, April, and May of 2018, the ICAC task forces investigated more than 25,200 complaints of technology-facilitated crimes against children.
The case was investigated by the Seattle Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security Investigations and was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Cecelia Gregson. Ms. Gregson is a Senior King County Deputy Prosecutor specially designated to prosecute child exploitation crimes in federal court. 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.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc. The initiative aims to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran announced the sentencing of CHERRY, emphasizing the importance of protecting children from sexual exploitation and abuse.
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Key Facts
- State: Washington
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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