Parma Man Sentenced to Over 16 Years for Distribution of Child Pornography

 BOISE – Jason Harvey, 45, of Parma, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 200 months in federal prison for distribution of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced today. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill also sentenced Harvey to a lifetime of supervised release following his prison sentence. Harvey pleaded guilty to the charge on June 24, 2020.

According to court records, the investigation began after Google, Facebook, and Yahoo! reported that child pornography had been uploaded to various online accounts between December 23, 2016 and March 25, 2019. The reports were assigned to the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force for investigation. ICAC obtained search warrants for the online accounts, which revealed the accounts belonged to Harvey. Within the accounts, ICAC located images and videos of child pornography and emails and messages where Harvey discussed trading child pornography with others. ICAC also located several emails and messages where Harvey sent child pornography files to other individuals and received child pornography files in return. A federal magistrate judge issued a search warrant for Harvey’s residence in Parma. During the execution of the search warrant, ICAC detectives interviewed Harvey. Harvey admitted ownership of the online accounts, but denied involvement in child pornography.

Judge Winmill also ordered Harvey to pay $6,000 in restitution to victims in the images he possessed. As a result of his conviction, Harvey will be required to register as a sex offender.

This case was investigated by the Idaho ICAC Task Force with assistance from United States Postal Inspection Service, Canyon County Prosecutor’s Office, Canyon County Sheriff’s Office, Caldwell Police Department, and Parma Police Department.

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. As part of Project Safe Childhood, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho and the Idaho Attorney General’s Office partner to marshal 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.”

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