CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – In a stunning turn of events for the United States Marine Corps, 44-year-old Jason Michael Ehret has been sentenced to federal prison after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography. The guilty plea was entered on November 15, 2016, and today, Senior U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack imposed a sentence of 87 months in federal prison.
Ehret, an active-duty Marine Corps major serving as an aviation flight instructor, was further ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. The judge also mandated life on supervised release with strict requirements to limit his access to children and the Internet. Ehret will be required to register as a sex offender.
Authorities utilized peer-to-peer software to trace the possession of child pornography back to an IP address associated with Ehret. During a search warrant execution at his residence in March 2016, agents seized numerous electronic devices. Analysis of these devices revealed more than 180 images and four videos of child pornography, alongside over 570 images of child erotica.
Ehret was arrested on federal charges in September 2016 and has been in custody ever since. His transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility is pending.
The investigation leading to Ehret’s conviction was conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, with the assistance of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Corpus Christi Police Department—Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Hugo R. Martinez prosecuted this case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc.
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Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Sex Crimes|Cybercrime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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