Statesville Man Sentenced To 15 Years In Prison For Possession And Receipt Of Child Pornography

Press Release

The Defendant Received an Enhanced Sentence for Violating the Court's Conditions of Release

STATESVILLE, N.C. - Jessie Leroy Glass, Jr., 50, of Statesville, was sentenced to 180 months in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for possession and receipt of child pornography, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell also ordered Glass to register as a sex offender after he is released from prison and to pay $5,000 in fines and $6,000 in restitution.

Robert M. DeWitt, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division, Kyle D. Burns, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in North Carolina and South Carolina, and Sheriff Darren Campbell of the Iredell County Sheriff's Office join U.S. Attorney King in making today's announcement.

According to trial evidence, witness testimony and filed court documents, between January and February 2020, Glass received and possessed images and videos of child pornography. As trial evidence established, the Iredell County Sheriff's Office initiated an investigation into Glass after an individual alerted law enforcement about Glass's possession of child pornography. Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement recovered two cell phones associated with Glass. A forensic analysis of the cell phones revealed that they contained images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children, including infants and toddlers. In June 2023, a federal jury convicted Glass on all counts.

The Court ordered that Glass not possess electronic devices while he was out on bond both before and after the jury convicted him at trial. At today's sentencing hearing, the Court granted the government's request for a higher sentence after the Court found that Glass violated the conditions of his bond on two occasions by possessing electronic devices, including cell phones, that he hid from his supervising probation officer. One of the secret cell phones that Glass possessed after his conviction and while he was on bond contained cartoon images depicting the sexual abuse of children.

Glass is in federal custody. He will be transferred to the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

In making today's announcement, U.S. Attorney King commended the FBI, HSI, and the Iredell County Sheriff's Office for their investigation of the case.

Assistant United States Attorneys Kimlani Ford and Stephanie Spaugh of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Updated March 28, 2024