Florida Woman Pleads Guilty to Possession of Child Pornography and False Bomb Threats

A Tampa, Florida, woman pleaded guilty to child pornography charges and issuing false bomb threats, Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley III of the Middle District of Florida announced today.

Jacqueline Numata, 27, pleaded guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Anthony E. Porcelli of the Middle District of Florida to one count of possession of child pornography and one count of communicating false bomb threats to the U.S. Air Force Air Base in Misawa, Japan, while she was an Army and Air Force Exchange Service employee in Misawa.  Numata’s sentencing will be set at a later date.

According to the plea documents, during a period of three months beginning in January 2015, Numata accessed and downloaded about 80 images of child pornography and uploaded the images to a blog she created in her estranged husband’s name.  She then used a fake Facebook profile to link those images to the Misawa Air Base Facebook community page, visible to all members of the site.  Numata also created and distributed in Misawa a flyer advertising the sale of children for sex, child pornography and marijuana that included her estranged husband’s name and additional child exploitation images that she downloaded.  Numata used another fake Facebook profile to post a photo of the flyer on the Misawa Air Base Facebook page.  During this period, Numata admitted that she communicated false bomb threats to Misawa Air Base on two occasions claiming to be from her estranged husband in order to frame him.  As a result of the threats, the buildings in the affected areas on base were evacuated and the security posture was increased.

As part of her plea agreement, Numata must register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.

This case was investigated by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Jay Bauer of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel Jones of the Middle District of Florida.