Tallahassee, Florida criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with receipt of child pornography
PANAMA CITY MAN SENTENCED FOR RECEIPT OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
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Jericho Rayne Skipper, 30, of Panama City, Florida, was sentenced to 60 months in prison and ten years of supervised release after previously pleading guilty to receipt of child pornography. Skipper will also be required to pay $66,000 in restitution to the victims. The sentence was announced by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
U.S. Attorney Heekin said, “This case demonstrates the excellent work of our state, local, and federal law enforcement partners to identify those who prey upon the most vulnerable of members of our community—our young children. My office will aggressively prosecute anyone caught peddling child porn, and we will not rest until every child is safe from the predations of these sick individuals.”
According to court records, in July 2024, a team of law enforcement officers in the Panama City area determined that Skipper had been using social media and online chat applications to trade images of adults engaged in sexually explicit conduct with young children, infants, and toddlers. Following his arrest, Skipper confessed to collecting the illegal images.
“The abhorrent crime of trafficking imagery of the sexual abuse of children online is abhorrent at every level, and contributes to their repeated victimization,” said Homeland Security Investigations Tallahassee Assistant Special Agent in Charge Nicholas Ingegno. “HSI is committed to continue working side-by-side with our state and local partners to identify these predators, remove their online footprints, and get victims the help the so desperately need.”
“Keeping kids safe is a top priority, and it takes strong teamwork across agencies to make that happen,” said Sheriff Tommy Ford of the Bay County Sheriff’s Office. “I’m proud of the partnership that helped bring this predator to justice.”
This conviction was the result of an investigation by the from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, the Panama City Police Department, and U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Meredith L. Steer.
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 and led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), it marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.
Outcome:
60 months in prison and ten years of supervised release