Michigan Man Living in the Philippines Pleads Guilty to Child Exploitation Offense

 John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JASON KELLER, 35, originally of Dearborn Heights, Michigan, pleaded guilty today to one count of receipt of child pornography.

Pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), the court proceeding before U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden occurred via videoconference.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in September 2018, Keller, using the moniker “Eddie Buttered Toast,” contacted a 14-year-old female in Connecticut and claimed he was a 17-year-old boy from Chicago.  At the time, Keller was living in the Philippines.  Keller then sent the minor victim a series of grooming emails that eventually coaxed the minor victim into sending photos of herself engaged in sexually explicit conduct to Keller.  Some of the emails Keller sent to the minor victim included sexually explicit images of himself.

On December 19, 2018, a grand jury in New Haven returned an indictment charging Keller.  Keller was located and arrested in the Philippines in June 2019.  He was removed from the Philippines and returned to the U.S. on December 12, 2019.  He has been detained since his arrest.

Receipt of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.  A sentencing date is not scheduled.

This matter has been investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Marshals Service, International Investigations Branch, with the assistance of the Philippine Bureau of Immigration, Fugitive Search Unit.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Clark.

U.S. Attorney Durham thanked the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs for its assistance in this matter.

This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

To report cases of child exploitation, please visit www.cybertipline.com.