Joseph Lavern Harris, Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Idaho 2018

Rigby Man Guilty of Child Exploitation
Pocatello, ID – Joseph Lavern Harris, 31, of Rigby, Idaho, pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a minor child, U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced yesterday. Harris was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pocatello on March 27, 2018.

According to court records, on February 26, 2018, state investigators responded to allegations of child abuse at a residence in Jefferson County, Idaho, where Harris resided. A subsequent investigation discovered that Harris had produced child pornography using a minor child. Investigators obtained a search warrant for Harris’s electronic devices and discovered images of the sexual abuse taken on Harris’s phone. In court, Harris admitted that he used, persuaded, and coerced the minor child to take part in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of such conduct.

The charge of sexual exploitation of a minor is punishable by 15 to 30 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and a term of supervised release of 5 years to life. Sentencing is set for June 18, 2019, before U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Pocatello.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations in Idaho Falls and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

Harris’s guilty plea marks a significant step towards justice for the victims of child exploitation in Idaho. The community can rest assured that those who commit such heinous crimes will be held accountable.

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