Federal jury finds Jacksonville man guilty of distributing child porn

After a five-day trial, a federal jury has found Jason James Neiheisel, 28, of Jacksonville, guilty of sharing child sex abuse videos and making them available for online for distribution.

Neiheisel faces a minimum mandatory penalty of from five to 40 years in federal prison and a potential life term of supervised release. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

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FBI agents arrested Neiheisel last May. According to evidence and testimony presented at trial, an FBI task force officer conducted an online investigation of individuals who were using the internet to trade child pornography. He said identified a host computer that was offering child pornography for distribution using a file-sharing network and downloaded approximately 48 videos, several of which depicted young children being sexually abused.

The host computer was later traced to Neiheisel’s home. On April 11, 2017, agents made contact with Neiheisel at his apartment, where he told them that he had downloaded child pornography for “a while,” and that he enjoyed the “thrill of the hunt” to see what kind of child pornography files he could find. A forensic examination of Neiheisel’s tablet revealed no child pornography but confirmed that he had used the tablet to access the file-sharing network. Neiheisel also admitted that he knew that he had made the child pornography videos available to others on the file-sharing network.

 This case was investigated by the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney D. Rodney Brown.