Charlotte Man Sentenced To 30 Years On Child Pornography Charges

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr. sentenced late yesterday Jason Reid, 30, of Charlotte, to 30 years in prison on child pornography charges, announced the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina.  In addition to the prison term imposed, Judge Conrad also ordered Reid to serve thirty years of supervised release and to register as a sex offender after he is released from prison.

John A. Strong, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Charlotte; Chief Kerr Putney, of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department; and Chief Tim W. Ledford of the Mint Hill Police Department are also making today’s announcement.

According to court documents and court proceedings, in September 2015, law enforcement became aware that an individual with the username “Dodecahedron88” was using the website www.Omegle.com (link is external) (Omegle), and later the chat application “Kik,” to exchange nude videos and images with a 12-year-old male (Child Victim 1).  The FBI identified the individual as Jason Reid, and on November 20, 2015, FBI agents executed a federal search warrant at Reid’s residence in Charlotte.  According to court records, Reid admitted to using Omegle and Kik to contact Child Victim 1.

Court records show that law enforcement also discovered text messages between Reid and a 13-year-old female (Child Victim 2).  During these chats, Reid told the minor victim, who has a developmental disorder, that one of his fetishes was young girls.  Reid admitted in plea related documents that he and Child Victim 2 traded sexually explicit images, and that he enticed Child Victim 2 to engage in illegal sexual activity, knowing that she was not above the age of consent. 

Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement recovered multiple text messages, images, and videos containing sexually explicit content between Reid and at least 12 underage male and female victims.

According to court documents, on several occasions, Reid tricked the underage victims into trading sexually explicit videos and images by posing as a teenage boy.  In some instances, Reid used fake videos of teenage boys to entice the victims to video chat and send him sexually explicit images.

Court records show that Reid also used the Kik application to receive and distribute child pornography, including some of the images he received from the child victims described above, with various Kik chat groups and individuals that were trading child pornography.

According to court records, a 12-year-old female (identified as Child Victim 12) told law enforcement that after she had traded sexually explicit images with Reid, he had threatened to hurt her if she ever told anyone.   Court records show that Reid traded a picture of this victim to another Kik user.

A forensic analysis of Reid’s computer, external hard drive and cellular phones seized from his residence revealed they contained at least 400 videos and 179 images of child pornography, some of which depicted sadistic, masochistic or other violent sexual conduct, and some of which were of minors under the age of 12.

In announcing the sentence, Judge Conrad stated that Reid’s case was one of the worst he had seen in 15 years on the bench.

Reid is currently in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.  All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

The FBI, CMPD and Mint Hill Police investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Cortney Randall with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.