Monroe, N.C. Man Is Sentenced To 25 Years In Prison For Sexual Exploitation Of A Minor

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney sentenced Jake Henry Anderson, 24, of Monroe, N.C., to 300 months in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for production of child pornography, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Anderson was also ordered to register as a sex offender upon completion of his prison term.

According to Anderson's guilty plea and other documents filed with the court, between July 8, 2021, and July 10, 2021, Anderson induced, enticed, and coerced a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct and produced a visual depiction of the conduct. Court documents show that Anderson befriended the 15-year-old minor female on Snapchat and began to communicate with her. Over the course of their communications, Anderson exchanged sexually explicit images with the minor victim and discussed having sex with her. As their communications progressed, Anderson discussed meeting the minor victim and told her he would make her his girlfriend.

According to court documents, on July 8, 2021, Anderson drove to the minor victim's house in Tennessee, picked her up from her home and drove her back to his home in Union County, North Carolina. During this time, Anderson engaged in sexual acts with the minor victim. Videos of the sexual acts were recorded and saved in his Snapchat account. Anderson was arrested after the minor was reported missing and law enforcement was able to trace her to the defendant's home.

Filed court documents show that after Anderson's arrest and upon seeing the defendant's picture in the news, another individual contacted law enforcement to report that a 16-year-old female had also been in contact with Anderson. During their communications on Snapchat, Anderson pressured this minor victim to send him sexual images of herself, to leave her family, and to move in with him. Investigators also determined that Anderson had driven by the minor victim's house and briefly met with her.

On June 29, 2022, Anderson pleaded guilty to production of child pornography. He is currently in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

U.S. Attorney King commended Homeland Security Investigations, the Union County Sheriff's Office and the Rutherford County (Tennessee) Sheriff's Office for their work in the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney 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.