A 27-year-old Dutchess County man was sentenced to 78 months, or six and a half years, in prison for receipt and distribution of child pornography, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton announced.
Jordan Watson, of Wappingers Falls, previously pleaded guilty to two counts of receiving and distributing child sex abuse material.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District, Watson began talking to two children online in July and August 2021.
Watson, who was 23 at the time, pretended to be 16 while communicating online with two 12-year-old girls in Arizona and Indiana, respectively.
He persuaded each child to engage in sexually explicit conduct, produce a visual depiction of such conduct and send one or more images or videos depicting that conduct to him over the internet.
“Jordan Watson crossed a clear legal and moral line by pressuring children to produce sexually explicit images,” Clayton said in a statement.
What happened in Watson’s conversations with 12-year-olds
On apps like Snapchat, Watson had a sexually explicit and graphic conversation with the 12-year-old from Arizona on July 18, 2021, and asked the girl’s age. The child initially told Watson she was 14.
On July 26, 2021, he had another conversation with the child on Snapchat, and the context surrounding it indicated and suggested Watson was requesting or had requested sexually explicit material. On the same day, the child sent a message on the app reflecting her true age of 12.
Later, on Aug. 1, 2021, the child in Arizona sent Watson a sexually explicit video of herself.
Watson also engaged in sexually explicit conversations with the 12-year-old girl in Indiana via Snapchat.
On Aug. 3, 2021, when Watson asked the child how old she was, she told him she was 13.
Watson then sent a sexual message, which court documents outlined in graphic detail, about things he wanted to see and do to the child.
Several hours later, on Aug. 4, 2021, Watson sent more messages of a similar nature to the child asking her to send sexually explicit images or videos of herself to him. The Indiana girl then expressed concern that if she did send Watson sexually explicit videos, Watson would then post them online.
Watson encouraged the girl to send them, saying, “No one will know.”
On Aug. 5, 2021, the child sent two sexually explicit videos of herself to Watson.
Watson faces prison sentence, plus supervised release
In addition to the six-and-a-half-year prison term, Watson was sentenced to spend five years on supervised release.
Court documents filed ahead of Watson’s sentencing reference difficult issues in his childhood, including an “unstable” home life “with his father’s absence and his mother’s incarceration due to drug use.”
Clayton commended the efforts of those involved, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation Hudson Valley Safe Streets Task Force, the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office and the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.
“This kind of conduct deepens the harm to victims and spreads far beyond a single interaction,” Clayton said. “It affects families and communities here in New York, and we will hold accountable those who engage in this reprehensible conduct.”
Nickie Hayes is Breaking & Trending News Reporter for the Poughkeepsie Journal. See her most recent articles here. Contact reporter Nickie Hayes: NHayes@poughkee.gannett.com, 845-863-3518 and @nickieehayess on Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Dutchess County man goes to federal prison for sexual chats with girls
Reporting by Nickie Hayes, Poughkeepsie Journal / Poughkeepsie Journal
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